Yellow and Red makes
by Digitize27
Summary: One life changing decision early in Naruto's life has startling consequences further down the line. What changes? What cannot be changed?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Naruto, simple as.**

* * *

Naruto was running, and while this simple fact alone wasn't all that strange or uncommon, it was the reason for his running that was interesting. He ran a lot, whether it was because of training or because he was running from people annoyed by one of his frequent pranks, he was well known for his ability to run. Except today that didn't seem to be helping him at all. He had once outran a team of trained ANBU black ops specialists after he had placed itching powder on their ever-present masks but for some reason he couldn't shake the large mob of civilians on his trail.

Maybe it was the fact that he was tired, it had been going on all day and even for somebody like him, with near inexhaustible stamina, that was difficult. Maybe it was because even when he rounded a corner there would just be a whole new mob waiting for him as if the entire population conspired against him to lead him into a trap. He wouldn't actually put this past them, years and years of his own life had taught him as much.

Naruto hadn't exactly led an easy life in the Village Hidden in the Leaves; far, far from it. From the earliest memories in his time at the orphanage adults were treating him as if mere thoughts of him were distasteful. If he wasn't ignored he was insulted, if he wasn't insulted he was shouted at, and if he wasn't shouted at he was beaten. Storekeepers threw him out of their shops, vendors refused to serve him their food, and people would kick him or throw things at him on a daily basis as if he were at best some kind of unwanted blight on their village.

Today was October tenth, his birthday.

Far from what many would believe a seven year old child like himself should be thinking, he wasn't happy about it. In fact, he feared the day of his birth more than any other day on the calendar. It was strange that, except for on his birthday, he wouldn't even know what the date was; it was the villagers who were considerate enough to remind him. Everything would become worse for him; instead of the occasional beatings when people came across him or the general ignoring from his fellow villagers, the people would actively seek him out, hunting him down like a cornered fox.

How ironic that very thought was, though he didn't know it.

Apart from his birthday October tenth was known throughout the village as a joyous occasion, the day when their beloved Yondaime Hokage destroyed the nine-tailed fox that would have razed the village to the ground otherwise. It sent the village into an uproar of partying, drinking, and of course the annual game of hunt down Naruto and beat him to within an inch of his life and hope he died before the Hokage found out.

This was why Naruto was running.

It was far harder than anything he had ever done in his life before, and for a shinobi-in-training that was saying something. He had thought that all his troubles would be over when he entered the academy last year; that everyone would start to see that he was a member of their village too and would protect it and them. It only made things worse; parents abhorred the idea that a wretch like him would be in close proximity to their children on a daily basis; that he would actually learn with them as the village actively tried to make him stronger.

How wrong they were about that.

The Senseis of the academy were no different than the rest of the village, always ignoring his questions, piling on the work load and marking him down for no reason. He even got terrible grades for attendence despite the fact he never missed a day. He tried to rise to the challenge, to overcome every hardship they threw at him by learning and training in every free second that he had. This was difficult, especially when he was barred from even entering the library for fear that he may actually become more intelligent. He tried anyway, throwing every last ounce of himself into his studies and training.

It wasn't like he had friends to take up his time with anyway.

The cold and hateful aura the adults always seemed to wear around him seemed to practically rub off on their children. They couldn't help but be influenced as they saw their parents and their teachers, the people they looked up to, shy away from the 'demon brat'. They told them that he was trouble and to be stayed away from, some were actively punished when they tried to befriend him, and some were rewarded when they were mean to him.

Eventually he got the message and isolated himself from the rest of his peers; he would never want anybody to be punished for him. He didn't show this though, he would always wear that horrid mask of his ever-present smile and cheerful demeanour. He was Naruto, the boy who never frowned, always happy, always smiling. He stopped trying to make friends, pretending that he didn't need them and was happy.

It was a lie.

In fact the only glimmer of light in his entire life was the Hokage, the old man would come and visit him in his old, run-down apartment and just talk to him. Naruto didn't really care if it was an act, or out of guilt for the way Naruto was treated. For one hour every month the Hokage would come over and treat him like an actual human being. They would talk about anything from his school life, to his favourite foods to his hobbies. Naruto had to make up a lot of what he said in order to give the old man a little hope; he was sure that if he told him that he had no hobbies, no friends, and the only food he could even afford was the instant Ramen cups he would only feel sad.

He hadn't come this month.

Naruto knew the Hokage was busy a lot, he did run an entire ninja village after all but it was so unlike him to miss out on their monthly meeting. Naruto had tried to go over and see him instead but the cruel receptionist had kicked him out the second he tried to step foot in the Hokage tower. It was becoming more and more difficult, he had to remind himself more and more often why he was trying so hard; why he trained day and night until his bones ached and his muscles tired.

What frightened him to the core were the days that he couldn't think of an answer.

He turned another corner blindly only to be met by the intimidating sight of four large men blocking the end of the narrow street, each armed with a vicious-looking implement. Desperately Naruto climbed the side of the building, using his recently gained strength and flexibility to scale the building using seemingly imperceptible handholds. It took him a few seconds but by that time a few people had caught up and were throwing rocks at him from below.

One clipped his shoulder, drawing out a deep gash of blood and nearly causing him to lose his grip. He grabbed the ledge of the roof hurriedly and pulled himself up to lie on his back panting as he caught his breath momentarily. It would only take a few minutes for his full energy to return to him but he wasn't given such a respite as he heard the sounds of people shouting out, far too close to him. The chase was on again as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, dodging the hail of rocks the villagers continued to throw.

Unconsciously he was making his way towards the north city gate, he realised this and diverted his path away. Last year he had attempted to escape the village and by extent its angry inhabitants only to be stopped by the two chuunin that guarded it and held down as the villagers finally caught up. He wouldn't be making that mistake again. This year he had tried to leave the day before and wait out the horrid day of the year but only adults were allowed out of the village without permission.

He couldn't sneak out either, the walls were patrolled and whilst he was a self-proclaimed master of stealth that did not make him a match for any chuunin. It didn't help that he had a tendency towards gaudy, bright clothing. Most of the time he stuck to his oversized white shirt with the village insignia printed on the front and white didn't help him blend into any shadows. It wasn't his fault that any other clothes were impossible to buy due to the shopkeepers charging him ridiculous amounts for even the clothes thought unfit for normal wear.

So he knew how this day would end, the same way they always did. He would run away, eventually tire and the villagers would find him before taking their turn kicking him and beating him until he had no tears left to cry and there was no part of his skin left unbloodied or unbruised. Then he would drag himself back to his cold, dark apartment and lie awake until exhaustion and pain threw him viciously into unconsciousness.

Each year he would last a little longer as he grew faster and stronger but in the end it was only putting off the inevitable. Nobody could run forever, not even him; eventually he would trip or collapse from the strain and the beating would begin. He only hoped that this year the people would show some restraint. It was a hope he had every year and every year it was proved false as they would come at him like he were the most unholy of evils.

This year was no different.

* * *

Anko strolled across the rooftops; it was her preferred means of getting across the village, away from the festivities below. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the rowdiness and general happiness of the rest of her people; she merely had some place to be and didn't want to get held up. She would always make it her priority when her Sensei called her and he was always so kind when she showed up a few minutes after he had sent for her.

She was especially excited today, he had said something about an important mission for a while now and now he was finally going to take her to the Land of the Sea. It was the farthest she would have ever gone on a mission before. She of course knew that Orochimaru-sensei had been all across the elemental nations and wanted to be just like him, exploring and adventuring until there was no place left that she hadn't seen.

She stopped her almost skipping-like pace when she heard something different to the rest of the festivities around her. She looked down from the rooftop she had landed on only to see a fairly large group of people all gathered around in a loose circle. Their combined gazes seemed to be towards the centre of the group where the young girl saw a boy of maybe six or seven get kicked repeatedly as he lay on the ground quietly crying and just taking the beating as if it were a daily occurrence. She looked on in horror at the sight as large men took it in turns to tread on, kick and beat the shivering child. There were bruises all across his small body and blood covered his white shirt, staining it a rusty brown until you wouldn't know it had even been white at all.

She looked on in shock at this until she recognised the mop of spiky blond hair and the distinctive whisker-like marks on the child's cheeks. Anko may have only been thirteen and a genin but her Sensei had seen fit to tell her about the attack by the Kyuubi, and not the edited version fed to the rest of her generation and the ones below it. She knew full well about the Fourth's sacrifice and his use of this child as a vessel to contain and imprison the beast that had threatened their home.

He was a baby; he had no choice in the matter and had to actually bear the burden of a demon within his very soul. He should have been a hero, hailed as a saviour like the Yondaime so often was. Instead he was hunted down, called a monster and a demon, all without ever knowing why, by people who apparently hated the Kyuubi more then they loved their Hokages. Anko had actually run into him before in better circumstances; she had been looking for a place to train while her sensei was out on a mission far too difficult for her. She understood this of course, he was a Sannin and the things he could do would ever cease to amaze and inspire her.

She had come across the child in a clearing just outside of the village where he was reading through scrolls and exercising his small body to the point of exhaustion. She had merely watched for a while, captivated by the sight, wondering why somebody so tormented and hated would try so very hard to become a ninja. To actually want to protect the people that so desperately wanted him gone or dead, Anko just couldn't understand it.

She had never approached him or talked with him; she didn't have the time with her training, but she had watched. It was almost hypnotic; he was so young, barely five years old. At that age Anko didn't even understand what the word 'shinobi' meant yet here this boy was, adamant to be the best and train harder than anybody else. She had to run off and continue her own training before too long but that image would stay with her a long time, as a symbol of dedication and strength.

Now here that same boy was, being beaten to within an inch of his life by the very same people he had unwittingly sacrificed so much to protect. It was enough to get the young genin's blood boiling as her fists clenched. She was about to intervene, despite her earlier thoughts about getting to her sensei as soon as possible, when a squad of ANBU landed on the roof across the street from her. She sighed with relief; the recognizable troops were her to protect the village from threats both internal and external.

That made it all the more unbelievable when the four masked men and women merely stood on the roof, apathetically watching the kid get beaten. Finally when it seemed he really couldn't take any more and might actually die they stepped in, jumping into the middle of the fray and dispersing the now large group of civilians. They may have hated Naruto but they weren't going to mess with the stoic and powerful ANBU, they were in such a position for a reason.

Anko waited a few more moments to make sure Naruto was safe but was once again appalled when the civilians were gone and the ANBU merely left, leaving a battered and obviously broken Naruto lying in the middle of the street. As if their sole responsibility had been merely to make sure he hadn't died, as long as he lived they were under no obligation to lift a finger further. She jumped down when they were gone and ran over, for once her Sensei could be damned, she wasn't going to leave somebody in this condition, demon container or not. The small pool of blood around the young boy was sickening and the state of his torn up body made her fear he actually was in fact dead.

It was only when he released a pitiful and cringe-worthy moan that she sighed, he was severely injured but he would survive. She picked him up very carefully, not really caring about the blood that got on her clothing and walked off at a steady and even pace that wouldn't upset the boy's injuries any more. She didn't really know where he lived but when she placed him down a moment to ask she was gladly told by a very excited young man who believed she was going over to trash his apartment.

She was disgusted by the encounter but understood why he had been that way when she reached the address she had been told about. The boy's home, if you could call it that, was a hovel; barely livable for rats. Rubbish and litter was strewn everywhere, when she tried the light switch nothing happened and all the windows were smashed in, the rocks strewn across the floor telling her by what. It was the kind of place someone would over live in if the only alternative was a cardboard box.

She gently laid the boy on his bed which was dirty and had numerous holes where dangerous-looking springs jutted out at odd angles. The whole place revolted her and she looked sadly at the young kid who had to live with it. She hoped that he would see his dream fulfilled to become a shinobi, if only to start receiving some money to improve his living conditions. She looked at him one last time before heading out the window and sprinting off, determined to make up the lost time to get to her Sensei.

* * *

Naruto awoke, as he always did this time of year, with a loud and painful groan. He looked down across his body at the dried blood and ripped clothing, he already knew what he would find but had to make sure anyway. Sure enough there wasn't a scratch or mark on his person, his unusually fast healing had saved him from the inevitable scars that would appear from beatings such as his. He sighed deeply before begrudgingly getting out of bed.

He didn't know why everybody hated him but the fact that he would heal from all their beatings practically overnight never seemed to help. In fact they would only get angrier, whilst he still was in the dark as to why. He had recently read about something called a Kekkei Genkai and wondered if this was his. He sighed even more deeply as he would never find out. He was an orphan so he couldn't ask his parents and the Hokage was especially tight-lipped when he asked questions about them or his strange ability.

He wearily dragged his feet across his floor, knocking aside the occasional discarded cup of instant Ramen as he did so. He may have the ability to heal his wounds quickly but that didn't get rid of the pain, or the memories and he winced as he looked down at his stomach where he knew there should be a long, nasty gash from a sharpened pipe. He dragged himself into the shower and stood under the freezing water until the last of the dried blood was washed away into the drain. If it wasn't for the water streaming across his body somebody might have seen that he was crying; the tears flowing seamlessly with the frigid water.

He got out of the shower and dried himself, not bothering to even attempt combing his unruly hair down. He threw on the last white shirt he still owned and a pair of olive shorts before moving tiredly out into the main area of his home. He was too tired and in pain to really notice before so he decided to check on the damage this year.

The windows were all smashed in, letting the chilly morning air into the small apartment. Graffiti covered the walls, some of it new but the majority of it old. The carpet and wallpaper was even more ripped up than usual with what even appeared to be a kunai driven into the wall. He was going to get hell from his landlord for this, despite other people actually destroying the apartment he always got the blame, usually in the form of raised rent, above the already extortionate price.

He sank into his lumpy and old couch, the new tears already streaming down his face. He had pulled the kunai out of the wall and was now sat looking at it intently, some of his own tears slashing across the dulled metal. He considered the weapon a moment, how easy it would be to simply take the sharpened piece of steel and slide it across his own throat. It would end his suffering; end his pain once and for all and he may even see his parents.

Experimentally he raised the knife to his neck, the gleaming blade nicking his skin and drawing a small trickle of bright crimson blood from the tiny cut that had already begun to heal. Tears continued to stream down his face as he slowly pulled the blade across his flesh. However before he could make contact he dropped the knife and clutched his temples in pain as a loud voice echoed out seemingly from inside his own head.

"_**I can't let you do that Kit, I think it's time we talked" **_before Naruto even fully understood what was going on he felt himself falling. He felt through his slightly dulled senses that his body had hit the floor of his apartment but his mind was already far away from that, tumbling through his own subconscious.

* * *

It was indescribably strange to wake up, knowing that moments ago you already had been wide awake. He rolled over, his mind still buzzing from trying to puzzle out that particular piece of information. What surprised him was that he didn't see the usual faded and peeling wallpaper of his apartment ceiling. He slowly got to his knees, then to his feet and unsteadily looked around himself. He seemed to be in what could only be described as a sewer. Corridors led off in every direction like a maze and the ever present sound of dripping water could be heard all around him.

It wasn't the Konoha sewers, Naruto knew that because he had spent his fair share of time hiding in them. This place was new, yet at the same time he felt a rush of familiarity with the dank, place. Finally Naruto got why it was so strange here; he couldn't smell anything. He was in a sewer, or so he thought, yet he couldn't smell a single thing, nothing, not even himself when he bent down to smell his own arm.

It was the strangest thing and he fixated on that for a few moments as he feared he had somehow lost his sense of smell. As he frantically looked around, worried about this missing sense and his strange surroundings something caught his eye in the periphery of his vision. He turned, slowly this time, to look at the corridor that had captured his attention. It was unremarkable, like the rest of the passages leading off in every direction yet Naruto felt a tug when he looked at it.

He was drawn to it and wondered if he was under the influence of a genjutsu. He had only read about the mind-altering chakra techniques so had nothing to compare it to. In the end he figured that if somebody was actually doing that they would have hurt him already so he simply went with his instincts and walked down the passageway. This continued for a few minutes, reaffirming his earlier thoughts on this strange place being some kind of maze.

It was positively labyrinthine and Naruto found himself weaving through corridor after corridor, still following this strange urge to walk down specific pathways. Finally when he was beginning to get agitated and somewhat annoyed he reached an opening to a room, not just another corridor and cautiously walked inside. Once again he wondered just where he was as he saw the massive steel gate that acted as the fourth wall of the otherwise plain room.

There didn't seem to be anything behind it, the darkness stretching off in every direction despite the light in the room. He looked around; finally realising there was light here, despite there being no source. He shrugged it off, the place was strange enough as it was, one more peculiarity didn't make much of a difference. He was cut off from his ponderings as the previously dark space behind the gate was filled with bright orange flames that seemingly filled every inch of the darkness.

He watched, entranced, as a large set of eyes and a grinning mouth appeared in the flames, looking down at him. He knew he should have been afraid by such a sight; it was straight out of the depictions of demons he had heard. Instead he was only curious; what was a demon doing here? Why was it behind bars? Why was he drawn to it in the first place? And of course the same one that had plagued him since waking up; what is this place?

"**Impressive Kit. Not many can stand before me without trembling in terror yet you stand unfazed."** The loud, androgynous voice boomed around the room and somehow inside Naruto's head as well.

"Wh-Who are you?" the large face that lacked any distinguishing features except the eyes and grinning mouth lowered itself until the mouth was practically on the floor, if the strange space behind the gate even had a floor.

"**I am the Kyuubi no Yoko or in your tongue, the Nine-Tailed Fox" **Naruto stared back at him blankly and the massive creature sighed. **"One of the Biju?"** Naruto only continued to stare at it, uncomprehending. Once again it sighed, the wind it generated whipping around the room. **"You know of what you humans called the Yondaime Hokage?" **Naruto nodded slowly; everybody in the leaf village knew of him. He was a hero and supposedly the most powerful ninja ever to be born in Konoha.

"**He sealed me inside of you on the day you were born in order to contain my power" **Kyuubi conveniently left out the fact that it was on a rampage at the time but it figured it wasn't its fault so thought it wasn't worth mentioning.

"Are you the reason why I heal so quickly?" That surprised the Kyuubi; it expected the boy to be more curious about the sealing or the reasons behind it.

"**Yes, that is a side effect of my power contained within your mortal body."** Naruto looked wearily at the ground and gave a sigh of his own, although against one of the great demon before him it was barely a whisper in the wind.

"Could you stop it?" The question took the Kyuubi off guard, he had been held by human containers before this child yet none of them had ever rebuked the powers it gave them.

"**Why? Why would you not want to heal away your injuries as fast as possible?" **Kyuubi may have been a demon and as such as known for his age, wisdom and deceit but this lone human being, barely a speck on the tapestry of time, had managed to pique its curiosity. Naruto still had his head tilted down and with its superior sight the massive demon could easily see the small droplets falling from the boy's eyes. Suddenly that same tear-stained face shot up and looked at the creature and with a whisper spoke out.

"Because I just want to die." The Demon narrowed its eyes; it was so unlike its container to give up. Kyuubi may have despised the boy at first because it was forced to endure his pathetic human life but nobody could live as long as it had without coming to appreciate those who try and never give up, even against impossible odds. For it to see such a person finally reach the end of their tether was... not saddening, a demon would never admit to such a pitiful emotion, but disillusioning.

Suddenly the demon's great visage shrank down and its features grew more distinct, it's face actually taking shape. Soon it was a fox about the size of a Rottweiler with deep orange fur dappled with black in the appropriate places. Nine elegant and swishing tails flowed out behind its body. Flicking to and fro as if each had its own mind. Naruto watched curiously as the small fox slinked out from behind the bars, and as it did so glowing threads seem to wrap around its neck, pulsating with a calming blue light.

"**Tell me why you wish to die human?"** Its voice had lost its androgynous quality, becoming vastly more feminine and soft, yet not losing any of the power it held behind the words.

"You're a girl?" The Kyuubi rolled her eyes at the question, with everything going on this child was curious about her gender?

"**What does that change?" **Naruto shrugged, nodding slowly at the fox's logic. **"Now tell me why you wish to die?" **She was much more insistent with the question than before, still curious about the boy's motives. She gracefully walked over to him and sat just in front of him with her head cocked slightly to the side. Naruto also sat down, uncaring of the damp floor beneath him, and wrapped his knees up in his arms.

"I've had enough. I can't take it anymore, the hate, the pain, the loneliness" Kyuubi considered him for a moment, its head cocking in the other direction.

"**And what makes you believe that taking your own life is the answer?" **it wasn't said mockingly or tauntingly or even said as an accusation, it was merely a question bred from genuine curiosity. For a creature that is technically immortal, death was an even greater mystery to her than it was to humanity. Naruto was put off by the seemingly innocent question about such a topic, that it could be said so nonchalantly was strange.

"I don't know, but I won't have to feel pain anymore and I might get to see my parents." Kyuubi nodded slightly, satisfied by the honest answer; it took courage to admit that you didn't know why you were doing something. Of course she knew that even if there was an afterlife the boy would never see his father. Having used the Reaper death seal to bind her into his son cemented his fate as the Shinigami's plaything. She sighed, of all the humans she had known, Minato Namikaze had actually proved to be a worthy foe and having been sealed in his wife for a number of years, some of her love for him was bound to leak through.

"**So to get away from what your village does to you, that is the reason you wish to be rid of your pain?" **Naruto nodded. **"Then why not simply leave?" **Naruto looked at the large fox as if he were about to retort angrily but before he could, the words died on his lips and he hung his head in shame.

"I don't know" It was an honest answer and he genuinely didn't know, he had asked himself the same thing for many years now. However the thought of actually leaving the village never crossed his mind. "Wouldn't that make me a coward?" Kyuubi huffed, a sound that was almost comical from a demonic fox but it was filled with contempt, not aimed at him however.

"**Leaving behind undeserved pain and suffering to find happiness and acceptance? That is cowardice? What a filthy and stupid concept." **It was blunt and direct but it made Naruto consider the proposal even further.

"How would I even leave? Where would I go?" Kyuubi smiled conspiratorially, glad that the boy was actually considering her offer. For too long she had endured the second-hand pain from the villagers' beatings on her container. He was technically her mortal form and his experiences were her's by proxy.

"**Don't worry Kit, that's the easy part."**

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about this but it seems this is causing some problems so I would like to get it out of the way early in the first chapter, this is ultimately a Tayuya pairing, nothing else.**


	2. Chapter 2

The two talked long into the night until Kyuubi finally let him go. He rubbed the back of his head, smiling slightly and looking around at the room he was in. He had been absent-mindedly scratching Kyuubi behind the ears for the last portion of their conversation, an action she hadn't minded in the least if her low purring was anything to go on. When he removed said hand she looked up at him with a sigh of disappointment, noticing the odd behaviour.

"Uhh Kyuubi?" It wasn't her name but the ancient fox let it slide because a human couldn't properly pronounce her vulpine name, even if they tried.

"**Yes Kit?" **Naruto was still annoyed by the semi-affectionate name but also let it slide, it appeared that even here he could get tired.

"How do I, you know... leave?" He blushed with embarrassment as he said it, not wanting to look like an idiot in front of her. Kyuubi only chuckled, a far less menacing sound coming from her smaller, less intimidating form.

"**That is entirely up to you Kit, this is your mind after all." **Naruto nodded without thinking until he heard the last part**.**

"What?" Kyuubi only chuckled again, once again a strange thing coming from a fox.

"**This is your mindscape, a visual representation of your mind's subconscious given form and solidity." **Seeing the blank look on the boys face the old fox sighed, this time out of mild annoyance. **"I have to keep reminding myself you're only seven."**

"Seven and a half!" She gave him a sly grin and couldn't help the laugh that came through her muzzle, the boy's innocence and naivety was too adorable.

"**Right kit, like I was saying this is what your brain..." **She checked to make sure he was still with her **"...tells you your mind looks like" **The boy still didn't seem to be getting what she was saying and she sighed, something that had become far too common for her in the last hour or so. **"Okay Kit, I want you to imagine a chair, right over there." **She pointed at a corner of the high-ceiling room and Naruto turned to look at it. After giving her a questioning glance he did as he was asked, picturing a chair right where she pointed.

When he opened his eyes that's exactly what he saw, just like he had pictured in his mind a large, comfortable-looking chair sprouted in the corner of the room. He jumped with joy and ran over to it, jumping on and playfully swinging himself around. He span until he became dizzy and half-fell/half-climbed out of the large chair. He smiled at the fox with red cheeks and gleaming teeth.

"That's awesome! I've always wanted to sit in the Hokage's chair but he always says that if I wanted to I would have to work really hard and earn it." Suddenly Naruto looked saddened and guilty, realising he had sat in the chair without the old man's permission and Kyuubi caught on to what he was feeling.

"**I wouldn't worry about it Kit. It isn't really Sarutobi's chair, just a figment of your imagination" **Kyuubi realised she had used long words again so before Naruto could don his cute, yet frustratingly confused expression she hurried on. **"So like that chair, all you have to do is imagine yourself waking up and you will do." **She looked satisfied with her in depth explanation and smirked, happy that she was actually able to dumb it down to his level, an intellectual challenge in its own right. A thought occurred to the ancient demon just as Naruto closed his eyes to imagine himself awake.

"**Wait Kit, one last thing. I have a request." **Naruto opened his eyes and looked at her curiously, wondering what a millennia old demon could possibly want with him. **"As you may have noticed this place..." **She looked around them and Naruto knew she meant the sewer in general **"...Is a bit dank for my taste. Could you possibly do something about it?"**Naruto thought on that a moment and tried to dredge up everything he knew about foxes which was unsurprisingly limited no thanks to people in Konoha's attitude towards the creatures.

He guessed they were wild; he got that from Kyuubi's attitude at least, mostly from her obvious displeasure at cages. The only wild places he knew about really were forests and the only forest he knew well enough to picture in his mind were the ones surrounding Konoha itself, giving rise to its name. He thought really hard about everywhere he had been in the forests, from the few rivers he knew about to the natural hot-springs. He included the sparse clearings that the older shinobi used as training grounds whilst editing out the village itself, after all he was sure that a giant fox had no use for buildings or Ramen stands.

When he was finally satisfied he looked around in wonder, as did the Kyuubi herself, at the verdant forest that surrounded the pair. They were stood in the middle of Naruto's favourite clearing for training in and he could even see the cut marks in the trees he used for shuriken practise. He was amazed by how accurate the picture from his mind was and wondered just how far it went. He was about to turn to the Kyuubi and ask what she thought of it but when he did so all he saw was her retreating form as she chased after a rabbit.

Naruto chuckled for a moment at the odd sight of a demon acting like a common wild animal but she seemed satisfied, maybe even happy so Naruto once again attempted to wake himself. With some reluctance he forced himself to imagine his apartment with all its little imperfections that added up into one big imperfect hovel. He was careful not to apply this image to his new surroundings lest he override Kyuubi's forest and suddenly he felt the opposite feeling than last time, rising instead of falling.

Once again there was that strange feeling of waking up without having actually gone to sleep which messed with his senses for a moment. In a daze he got up and looked around his apartment, he had collapsed on the floor and the kunai knife was by his feet. He picked it up and slid it into a pocket despite the fact that a few hours ago he had been willing to kill himself with it. He would have thrown it out of the window but they were expensive, especially with the prices the shopkeeper charged him specifically.

Suddenly thinking about the time he looked outside and realised that it appeared no time at all had passed since he'd fallen asleep, or unconscious, or... whatever that was. _**"Mindscape Kit, Mindscape" **_Naruto jumped backwards from the window in alarm at hearing the voice ring out in his mind, still the softer feminine voice instead of Kyuubi's menacing power voice.

"Ah Kyuubi, you're in my head!" Naruto heard the great beast sigh, which proceeded to reverberate around his head. "_**I would recommend that you don't shout out loud every time I commune with you. People will think you are crazy, merely think what you wish to say and I can hear it." **_Naruto was a little startled by this particular revelation.

"_So you can read my thoughts?"_

"_**Yes Kit, I have done ever since I was sealed inside of you, now if we are done here I've nearly caught that rabbit." **_Naruto waned to ask about the weird time difference between his mind and the real world but he guessed it was self explanatory and left the older creature be. Nervous now about the fact that his every thought was being listened in on he moved about his apartment, gathering up the necessary supplies he would need for later. He tried to clear his mind of all thoughts, an exercise he had actually read about in his scrolls and had thought too silly to try, now he wished he had paid more attention.

He was unsuccessful to say the least as his mind kept darting from one thing to the next, mostly in excitement for what he was going to do. There were a few things he still needed but didn't have so he would have to go out. Luckily it was Sunday so there was no school and he happily jumped out of the window onto the adjoining roof where he flew across rooftops until he reached the food district. He kept at the mind clearing exercise unsuccessfully while Kyuubi merely chuckled at him from inside his mind.

Looking around the area he looked for a place that would sell the items Kyuubi had told him to get. Easily portable, long-lasting and easy-to-cook food and before he could even suggest it Kyuubi shot down the idea of instant ramen, mostly due to the fact it was practically all he, and therefore she, had eaten in their seven years. He collected what he could with what little money he had left and continued to walk around the area. He told himself it was because he was looking for more of the items on his internal list but in reality he was just taking in the village for the very last time.

He walked past a place he knew used to serve octopus balls but had been closed up. There was a sign on the front of the shop that read 'Coming soon, Ichiraku's Ramen' He only glanced at it disinterestedly, there were a few Ramen places in Konoha, there was nothing to say this one would have been special. He walked on through the food district, reaching the Academy and simply staring at it.

This place had been more of a home to him than his own apartment had in the last year. Here he could at least pretend to have friends and imagine that he could take part in their games of missing-nin/hunter-nin. It was basically glorified hide-and-seek but Naruto wouldn't have cared as long as he got to play it. There were also the people in his class, he didn't know anybody specifically but there was a girl, Sakura who he had a small crush on. He guessed he would have to forget about them all if he was to move on.

"_**Yes Kit, it would be best if you cut all ties to your past here. It will make it easier for you to find a new and better life." **_Naruto started, still unused to the sudden appearance of Kyuubi's voice in his mind.

"_Would you please stop scaring me like that?!" _His only reply was a quiet chuckle before Kyuubi returned to what she was doing in his faux-forest. He felt uncomfortable with the idea of merely forgetting about his 'friends' and decided instead merely to not think about them anymore. He smiled and walked on, his friends may have been hard to forget but that didn't mean it was the same for his teachers. His 'Senseis' never taught him anything, always making sure he got the rattiest textbook and no proper tutelage at all, he would enjoy forgetting about all of them.

He came to his final stop on his journey, the Hokage tower and quickly climbed up the side of it until he was on the roof. There was no point going in; while he would have liked to see the old man one last time he knew that his receptionist wouldn't allow him to even touch the door if she could stop him. He sighed and thought it was for the best, Kyuubi had told him to try and cut all ties and that was what he was doing. The Hokage may hold a special place in Naruto's heart but he couldn't let that cloud his decision to leave, which he knew it would if he saw him.

Naruto wrestled with this for a while, along with his other few good memories of Konoha before peacefully sitting back and looking at the Hokage monument until it became dark. He considered going out with a bang with some large elaborate prank to remind the villagers just who was leaving them. However after some berating by Kyuubi and some reconsideration he decided against it. Something large and obvious wouldn't help him sneak out of the village more easily and he knew that it was just his old self acting out.

The pranks had been a way to get people to notice him when they simply ignored the boy and now that he was leaving he didn't have to work for their approval or notice anymore. It was almost a relief, like some large weight had been lifted from his shoulders. With a new smaller, but more genuine smile he made his way, more slowly, back towards his apartment where the rest of his needed gear was laid out on his bed, ready to be packed into his rucksack.

* * *

It was dark when he set off, the sun had set hours ago and that was long enough for the last remnants of the daylight to fade away. It helped that there were thick clouds in the sky, only occasionally letting a sliver of silver moonlight trickle through to the streets. Naruto stuck to the shadows, not risking taking the rooftops for fear of being caught by a patrolling ANBU or other Shinobi.

He knew he was at a severe disadvantage tonight; he couldn't use his chakra even if he could have effectively. Any burst of unknown chakra would have alerted any nearby chuunin or above with a modicum of training. That meant no henge. It honestly didn't make much of a difference though as Naruto was only in the first year of the academy, his skills with ninjutsu and genjutsu were mediocre at best.

Before he made a break for the gates Naruto had one last thing he needed to do which Kyuubi had warned against. For once he ignored his new friend; this was just something he had to do. The old fox may have wanted him to cut all ties to his life here but Naruto couldn't leave without one memento. It also satisfied his inert need to pull one last prank; even though it probably wouldn't be noticed for some time after he was gone he would still feel the satisfaction from what he had done.

He left the Academy as quietly as he had entered, barely making a disturbance in the night as he put all his mastery of stealth into action. He had a satisfied grin plastered on his face which he quickly quelled so his teeth wouldn't give him away in the night. Naruto may have been one for the direct approach but even he knew that when it wouldn't work, it wouldn't work. He gratefully listened to Kyuubi's plan and silently moved around the village doing as she asked.

It was far simpler than he would have imagined, as long as he didn't use any chakra and suppressed it like Kyuubi told him to, he wasn't interrupted by any guards. After one nerve-wracking but useful circuit of the village walls he was ready. He found himself back where he had started, in front of the west gate, a few buildings away so he could quietly observe the two chuunin guards without them spotting him.

He had hoped that the two of them might have dozed off and made his whole plan that much easier but he was in no such luck. Both of them looked alert and attentive, ready to ward off threats and protect the gate they had been assigned to. Luckily most of their attention was focused outwards, lacking the training to also expect attacks from within like the ANBU. Naruto sighed, he had hoped to avoid this, he hadn't exactly been ecstatic when Kyuubi had told him just what they would be doing to leave.

"_Alright Kyuubi, I've done everything you asked so far. Now what?" _Inside of his mind Kyuubi grinned, she had watched him perform his task with skill unthought of for an academy student. Of course she had been guiding him but it still showed what a remarkable ninja he could someday become. With her help she would make sure that was someday soon, no need for her to have a weak container after all. At least that was what she told herself.

"_**Good job Kit" **_Naruto beamed happily at the praise before she reminded him to keep his emotions in check and stick to the plan _**"Now make the hand sign I'm showing you in your head." **_Naruto's brow furrowed when she said this.

"_But I can't do ninjutsu. Why am I making a hand sign?" _Kyuubi sighed; she was starting to dislike having to explain everything she did to the young boy, no matter how necessary it was to his development.

"_**Don't worry about that, you just make the hand sign to focus the chakra and I'll do the rest." **_Naruto wasn't sure about this but he made the appropriate symbol with his hands. If he remembered correctly from his academy lessons it was 'serpent', really his hands were just clasped together but he hadn't questioned Kyuubi yet. He suddenly felt a strange pulse run through his body, it hurt slightly but only because it caused him discomfort, as if his body was trying to fight against the strange presence.

Off to his right he heard a loud crack fill the air as one of the many explosive tags he had placed on the village walls detonated. He hoped it would work properly; he had followed Kyuubi's instructions perfectly and only hoped he hadn't somehow messed up while writing them. It was putting his chakra into the paper that was the really hard part though, he wondered how the people who normally had to make them put up with it.

At least from the sound of it the plan was working so far, it wasn't a powerful bomb, probably not even enough to put a few cracks in the wall but it was sufficient as a distraction. Sure enough one of the chuunins guarding the gate moved off to investigate the sound, leaving his companion alone. It was exactly how Kyuubi thought they would act; textbook strategy. Of course the ancient demon had a few millennia on any human strategist and even if she hadn't it was fairly easy to out-manoeuvre this. Their fault was believing that there would only be one distraction.

Naruto made the hand sign again and felt another pulse of the uncomfortable energy run through him. He had felt the effects of using chakra before and it definitely wasn't like that so he would have to ask Kyuubi later when they had a spare moment. It was a much larger burst this time and Naruto could hear its effects already; all around the village his strategically placed tags started detonating one by one, slowly drawing all the guards in the vicinity towards the disturbances.

Thankfully the guard remaining at this gate followed suit, moving away in the opposite direction to his companion and leaving the gate wide open. Naruto knew he only had one shot at this and throwing caution to the wind he ran full pelt at the abandoned gate, not stopping until he was a few hundred metres away where he rested against a tree, grinning broadly. Even if the village somehow knew that he was leaving there was no telling where he could have gone, the placement of the tags all the way around the village saw to that.

Happy that everything had gone off without a hitch he walked away from the village, its walls receding away into the darkness of the night as he set out, determined to make his own life. For once he felt secure in the knowledge that he knew exactly what he was doing, at least for the moment. It was a change for him, actually having a destination for once, he was much more used to listlessly going through day after day without any other real purpose that to survive for the next. With a chuckle he remembered the extensive conversation he and Kyuubi had on this very subject.

* * *

"_**So Kit, you know you want to leave this village but do you know where?" **__Naruto looked up at the fox, still marvelling at how something with so much power in its voice could look so cute._

"_What do you mean?" Kyuubi sighed, the very word was beginning to annoy her now, she wished she could remove the word 'sigh' from all of history._

"_**I mean, where do you wish to go after we leave the village?" **__Naruto blushed a little when she said 'we' but didn't act on it. He was also blushed because he hadn't even considered this at all; geography was hardly his best subject. He did want to learn, he knew that knowing the layout of the land and the area around you was important to a ninja but if it didn't involve jutsu or fighting he had trouble finding a reason to listen. He sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head, an action Kyuubi knew all too well in the seven years of her latest imprisonment._

"_**You have no idea do you?" **__Naruto just shrugged with that same sheepish smile and Kyuubi had to physically stop herself from sighing again, she would learn to control this.__**"I guess I can help you out. You still wish to be a shinobi do you not?" **__Naruto nodded quickly after working out that her words weren't a double negative. __**"Well then I would recommend one of the other hidden villages." **__Naruto stared at her blankly and Kyuubi suppressed yet another sigh, she swore this was becoming more common that in the rest of her life combined, she was going to have to get Naruto educated soon if she was going to keep her sanity._

"_**Yes Naruto, there are other hidden villages. Did you really think there was only one in all the elemental nations?" **__She had meant the question rhetorically but Naruto hung his head in shame all the same and nodded slowly. It was almost cute to see the way he acted like a small child, even if he was in fact one. Even so, he was a ninja in training and the academy should have gotten this out of his system straight away. She cursed his teachers; they gave her so little to work with it might strain even her endless patience._

"_**More specifically the five major villages are Leaf, as you know; as well as Rock, Mist, Cloud, and Sand." **__Naruto looked at her curiously, thinking about the names of each village._

"_Village Hidden in the Rocks?" Kyuubi nodded slowly, she really hoped Naruto wasn't considering that one. From all the enemies his father made Iwagakure was definitely not a safe place for the boy. "That sounds... uncomfortable." Kyuubi could help but let out a small laugh at the boys statement._

"_**Uncomfortable, how... appropriate. I couldn't agree with you more Kit." **__He smiled a little, encouraged that the Kyuubi agreed with one of his choices; it was still a strange feeling to have a friend._

"_Mist sounds too wet" Both of them shuddered at the words. Kyuubi hated water, it got in her fur and made it stick out at funny angles; annoying to say the least. It appeared that Naruto had inherited some of her dislike for the substance, at least when it clung to him and dragged him down._

"_**If that is your objection I recommend you avoid Cloud as well." **__Naruto looked a little disappointed; he had been working towards cloud as it had sounded the most interesting. He wondered just how you could put a village on a cloud. Of course he was a little naive but he wasn't an idiot; he understood that the names weren't literal. However he still couldn't help but wonder._

"_What do you mean?" Kyuubi took a moment to consider just how to word this._

"_**Clouds are like water in the sky." **__Naruto only looked more confused, the clouds didn't look like water, he couldn't see through them. __**"Perhaps that isn't the best way to put it" **__She looked around, searching for some inspiration to help her explain. __**"Your kettle, you know how it steams?" **__Naruto had enough experience with a kettle from his instant ramen that he could safely nod. __**"That is because the very hot water comes out and cools quickly, clouds are like that but high in the sky."**_

_Naruto thought for a moment, comparing the steam from his kettle with the white puffy clouds in the sky that one of the boys in his class seemed so entranced with. He could definitely see some connection but he didn't understand the science behind it. He decided that he was growing bored and to take the older creatures word for it so he nodded._

"_**Good, well clouds are just like that, they are water in the sky which is why rain comes from them." **__That was exhausting for Kyuubi, to not understand ninja techniques and the like was one thing but to not even have a simple grasp of condensation was different, she was learning to dislike Naruto's academy teachers more and more. Briefly she considered retracting her objections to Naruto's idea of one last prank. __**"Anyway Kit, it appears that by elimination you have chosen our destination." **__She grinned a foxy smile even as Naruto looked back confused._

"_Huh? I didn't choose yet." Kyuubi maintained her grin and warded off the tick that was beginning to appear above her eye._

"_**There are only five villages Kit. You have left one and don't like three of the others, that only leaves Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand." **__Kyuubi was satisfied with the choice, she would have been happy with anything Naruto had chosen but this seemed to be for the best. She wasn't appalled by the idea of sand; there were many of her comparative species that resided in deserts so she would be well suited. It wasn't like it affected her anyway; she would still be stuck in this dank prison cell after all; perhaps she could get Naruto to do something about that._

"_Kyuubi?" She was broken from her internal monologue and self congratulation as Naruto looked curiously at her. She knew that wasn't going to be good from the way his eyes had that irritating but endearing inquisitive spark._

"_**Yes Kit?" **__Naruto managed a smile from the way her voice softened; it had been getting increasingly loud as their last conversation had worn on._

"_What's sand?" Kyuubi let out a deep and earth rumbling groan before placing her paws over her eyes and pushing her head into the floor. This was going to be a long night._

* * *

Naruto was happy with his previous choice and with Kyuubi's perfect knowledge of the elemental nations as his guide he would be there in no time. He couldn't tree hop yet, as much as he had tried to copy the tricky technique, so he had to settle for a brisk walk. He didn't mind all that much, it was a nice night and he had some time before the village knew he was gone and could track him effectively. What he didn't notice were the set of pale lavender eyes that followed him.

* * *

Hinata enjoyed cloudy nights like these; it served to better hide her from the world. The clouds were like a blanket, protecting her from the eyes of the world, if there were no stars or moon then there was no light to shed on her activities. When the academy year had started her father had begun showing her a little more kindness than usual; she figured it was because he thought she would finally take her training seriously and live up to her role as the Hyuuga heiress.

She did take her training seriously; her father had no idea just how much, even with his 'all seeing' Byakugan. Hinata herself had activated her Kekkei Genkai at age five, another cause for celebration back then. Those were the two times she had known her father to express emotion around her, all other times he would be the proper clan head. It was nights like these that she would come out into her favourite clearing, a small pasture of land that was surrounded on all sides by dense foliage that further served to hide her presence.

It was because she was practising the gentle fist's defensive stances with her Byakugan activate that she saw the retreating form of her secret crush. She had only known the boy for six months, before that his status as the town pariah had kept him away from the other children his age. Even before then though she had seen his around, always mistreated by the villagers for reasons she couldn't understand. When she had asked her father about it he had plainly informed her to forget about him and focus on her training. Of course that only strengthened her curiosity.

Then the school year had started and she had actually gotten to see how he behaved. He was like a role model to the young Hyuuga, no matter what life threw at him he would always pick him up with a grin and dive right back in. They were almost polar opposites in her mind; he was loud, outgoing, and a little clumsy whereas she was quiet, shy, and reserved. In all the time she could have gotten to know him she had barely spoken five words to the boy, barely enough that he knew her name.

For some indiscernible reason she would always become flustered and embarrassed when he was close to her. Her cheeks would flush with red and her ability to talk deteriorated from even her normal shy stuttering. Any outsider looking in on the girls thoughts, or even somebody who just watched how she behaved, would have understood the girl had a crush on the boy but Hinata was only seven, not versed enough in life to grasp that.

Having seen the boy she admire so much seemingly walk away from the village, suppressing his chakra signature no less, she decided to follow him. Her curiosity was piqued when he showed no signs of stopping any time soon. She wondered how he had even gotten out of the village so late, permission was only granted to adults and shinobi. She was only allowed to leave because nobody would question the heiress to the most prestigious family in Konoha; after the Uchiha of course.

She began to worry when he started to get really far from the village and she only now noticed the backpack slung over his shoulder and the dark clothes he was wearing. He couldn't be leaving, could he? No, this was Naruto, he never ran away from anything. However as she tried to wrack her mind to figure out what the enigmatic boy was doing he was getting increasingly further away from her home.

She wanted to call out, anything to make him turn around and see her but her body wouldn't follow her mind's commands. As if Naruto had somehow heard her thoughts he paused a moment, as if considering some unspoken voice. He turned slowly and peered into the brush where she was currently hidden and Hinata had to stifle a squeak as his eyes seemed to land directly on her, as if he could pierce through the darkness and see her.

"Hello?" That was impossible; she had been hiding her movements and was practically silent, he wasn't facing her so he couldn't have seen her. She hadn't been hiding her chakra but there was no way Naruto could detect her because of that. She didn't have a strong chakra signature to begin with and only a jounin would have picked it up. Even so Naruto was looking straight at her position, he must know somebody was there but he didn't know who. There was no point in hiding any more, Hinata knew Naruto was an inquisitive boy, if he thought there was somebody here then he was going to investigate. She stepped out of the bushes into the weak light that drifted onto the path while Naruto just looked at her curiously.

"Hey, you're that girl from my class. Hinata!"


	3. Chapter 3

"O-Oh, um hi, N-Naruto" She was pressing her fingers together the whole time she talked, refusing to meet Naruto's surprisingly penetrating gaze. His cerulean blue eyes tried to lock onto Hinata's paler lavender ones but they darted around too quickly and he gave up trying. He was wondering what the girl was doing so far out of the village so late. He had seen her a few times in his class but hadn't talked to her much. Mostly she just seemed shy and in his opinion, a little weird.

"Hinata, what are you doing out here?" He knew he really didn't have a right to ask her that considering he too was out but he needed to hurry the conversation along before the ANBU or other shinobi could catch his trail.

"Oh, um, I-I was t-training" Naruto's brow furrowed, he thought he was the only one who actually trained outside of school time but he guessed there were others as well. He was suddenly caught off guard as Hinata gained a sudden burst of fleeting confidence.

"W-What are y-you doing out h-here?" He gulped, not sure whether or not to actually tell the truth or not. Honestly he didn't have a real excuse for his actions, a rather large oversight on his and the Kyuubi's part. He hadn't known Hinata nearly long enough to know whether or not he could trust her. In a split second decision he figured it wouldn't matter anyway as he was still leaving.

"I'm leaving the village." Hinata's eyes widened; something that looked strange with her already rather large eyes. All the confidence was drained out of her with that statement and her whole world was rocked, Naruto was giving up? At least that was how her mind connected the dots. Seeing the girl in front of him almost short-circuit from his explanation he continued, the silence becoming awkward. At least he was about to until Hinata seemed to reawaken and look at him, her eyes shimmering in a way that Naruto just thought was a trick of the light.

"B-But why?" Naruto paused, the way she said it made it sound like she actually cared; it was a new sensation for the young boy.

"I needed a change of scenery" he couldn't help the old mask slipping back on; it just tended to happen as a reflex around his peers. He said it with a false grin but upon seeing Hinata's slightly shocked and partly disbelieving face he dropped it again, taking on a more serious face. "I have my reasons Hinata" She nodded, mostly out of practise for whenever somebody said anything to her in that same serious tone, especially her father.

She had of course seen the way Naruto was treated in the village and for a while she had assumed it was because of his pranks or maybe something he had done in the past. Except it seemed to go beyond that, to something much deeper that couldn't possibly have earned Naruto the ire of the entire village in his short life. It was a mystery to the Hyuuga Heiress, one she had hoped to unravel as the two became friends and she now saw that chance slipping through her fingers.

"W-Where are y-you going?" No, that wasn't what she was supposed to ask, why did she do that? Naruto was about to answer the question before Kyuubi's voice rang out in his head quickly.

"_**Stop Naruto, you can't tell anybody where you're going or they'll be able to track you and take you back." **_Naruto firmly shut his mouth on the answer he had been about to foolishly give away. Hinata may have seemed nice but she was still a part of Konoha and right now that meant he couldn't trust her, at least not completely.

"Um, I can't tell you that Hinata." The girl had noticed the pause between what he had been about to say and what he had eventually replied with. It was like before when he had first spotted her; like he was hearing one part of a conversation Hinata wasn't privy to.

"Are y-you ever c-coming back?" Again Hinata screamed at herself inside; that wasn't what she was supposed to say. She had firmly told herself to ask him to stay, to reconsider and just come back to the village before he got in trouble. Technically he was an academy student, not a shinobi yet, so he wouldn't be counted as a missing-nin but if he was caught outside of the village so late he would be punished.

"I don't know." The answer was completely honest, Naruto honestly had no idea. The whole point was to go out and make his own life somewhere new, somewhere that wouldn't treat him unfairly or put him down. If that meant he could someday return then he might; but first he had to get away, at least for now. He didn't let it show just how much this conversation was paining him, reminding him of the village, his home and everything good about his life so far. Surprisingly it was the soothing word of the Kyuubi that entered his mind with these thoughts.

"_**It's going to be alright Kit, I promise" **_His resolve strengthened with the kind words and he mentally smiled for what he realised was his first true friend after the Hokage. He looked at Hinata as she appeared to be in deep thought, her eyes flicking back and forth between two points on the ground which would have shown somebody with the emotional sensitivity greater than a teaspoon that she was internally conflicted. As it was, Naruto only saw somebody hesitating around him, silence and awkwardness; something he was all too familiar with.

He put his hand up at Hinata and began to walk off down the path again only for her to grab his arm and pull lightly. He turned, expectantly waiting what she was going to say but even though her mouth was opened slightly, no words came out. He sighed and pulled away from her grasp; his hopes had been raised slightly by the encounter but now he was back to normal. Hinata watched his retreating figure, her mouth still open as her mind fought for dominance over the mouth that her shyness had firm control over. Finally she broke down her barrier but it was too late, Naruto was too far gone.

"Naruto." It came out as nothing more than a squeak; so quiet that it might have been mistaken for the wind.

* * *

The conversation with Hinata had slowed Naruto down considerably so now he was jogging away from the village. It left little time for thoughts but even so, he couldn't help but remember all the good feelings that Hinata's words had invoked in him. It was already dark when he had left the village and the starless night was making it difficult to see more than twenty or so feet in front of him. In retrospect he should have rested more before his escape but he could hardly dwell on the past now.

Even so, he was a seven year old boy and it was late, already the veil of sleep was beginning to descend over his eyes. Bar one training exercise from the academy Naruto had very little experience with the outdoors; that wasn't to say he hadn't learned anything about surviving. It was merely a new medium to test his skills in and internally, much to his occupant's amusement, he was considering all of this a challenge.

A tent was too bulky for him to lug around, his small body wasn't yet built to carry heavy loads. The best he could do when the exhaustion on his body became too great was to climb up a tree and pull a blanket over himself after securing himself tightly with a length of rope. It was a trick he had learnt on one of his more successful flights from the villagers when he couldn't come down from the tree he had been hiding in. Back then he had used his shirt, cut into strips, in order to stay on but the rope just made this easier.

It was an understandably cold night, being late autumn, and Naruto first found it difficult to allow his body to shut down. However after a few comforting words from his tenant and a small amount of waiting to let sleep come he finally descended into the dark.

* * *

Hinata sat on her bed staring uncomprehendingly at her bedroom wall. One may have thought she was trying to see through it from the intensity of her gaze, something that was quite possible with her kekkei genkai. However her mind was far from the images her eyes projected, too lost in her own thoughts to even begin to care. All of these turbulent thoughts that swam through her mind and distracted her from her usual sleep focused around one mop-headed boy.

He had left.

That one phrase in particular stood prominent in her thoughts and for good reason. The very reason Hinata had begun to notice and especially admire Naruto was his inability to give up, sometimes to the point of idiocy. Everything that life threw at him he merely took a hold of and peacefully returned it with a smile. It was the single most important trait of the kid which had allowed him to last even this long against the impossible odds of loneliness and hatred.

Hinata kept trying to puzzle it out, kept trying to figure out the ulterior motive, the other way of seeing this that didn't mean her idol had simply given up. However when she did try and take that route her mind simply turned to more saddening thoughts. Her gaze turned inwards, looking at herself and berating harshly her own inability to simply talk to the boy, to ignore her father's warnings and try and make a friend out of him.

She cursed her shyness and blamed herself, unfairly of course, for the fact that Naruto had left at all. She believed it was her own weakness, her own unwillingness to act, even if it meant she could help him and maybe even herself. It was thoughts like these that made her want to break down and weep; she was only kept from doing so by the other thoughts that inhabited the current maelstrom of her mind.

Maybe if she was stronger, maybe if she had said something or did something, then this wouldn't be happening. It was her fault and she truly believed that. She thought of Naruto some more, the way he might have handled the situation in her position, how he might have acted to bring her out of whatever it was she was going through. She knew he would, it was just the way he was; he was so unused to kindness in his own direction that he constantly had to project it outwards to even glimpse at what it felt like, at the cost of his own happiness.

It was a strength she never thought she could have and finally the barrier couldn't hold back anymore, the overwhelming tide of negative emotions burst through and Hinata began to cry. She thanked the protective seals on the walls that prevented her father from looking through into her room and seeing her in this weakened state. He would have berated or punished her, calling her unfit and weak, unworthy of her position as heir.

It was a vicious spiral of thoughts that appeared to have no end to them but end it did when a bright glimmer of hope erupted through the pain and sadness. A blonde image of hope that projected through the crying girl like a beacon, telling her that she could be stronger, that she could better herself. All it would take was some effort, some perseverance and most importantly, determination. Against all odds and despite the fit of tears, that had only seconds before cascaded down her cheeks, the young Hyuuga managed to drift off into surprisingly peaceful sleep with the faintest of smiles adorning her features.

* * *

Naruto awoke the same way he always did, early and blearily. Being tied to a tree changed nothing about the way he greeted the mornings, even if it was slightly later than he was used to. Most of the time he would be up promptly at five a.m to squeeze every last drop of the day's potential through training, reading and of course his usual prank or the planning that went into them. With a sigh he realised that, with him leaving the village; that part of his life was behind him.

No more using pranks to gain the attention he so desperately craved; it almost left him with an emptiness he couldn't quite explain. It had been a part of him for so long that it had actually managed to wriggle through his facade and become a part of his life. He shrugged wearily, something that would have looked impressive, being tied up like he was, to an onlooker. As it was, there was nobody about to witness the awakening of the young shinobi in training and he was allowed to continue with his improvised morning routine in peace.

He bathed in a nearby stream, the cold water not even affecting him as he was so used to the cold showers in the morning. Normally he would have worried about some passerby catching him but he was tired and distracted and thought nothing before shedding his clothes and lightly treading water. He got back out and drip-dried, only putting on his boxers in case someone did happen to chance by. He got started on his breakfast, marvelling briefly at the unusual sensation of not having ramen first thing in the morning.

After that, and when he felt he was dry enough, he shoved his clothes back on in a hurry, packed away anything loose that he had used and began to walk down the same path he had arrived here from. He chuckled briefly as he heard the yawn that reverberated around his kind that definitely wasn't his.

"_Morning Kyuubi" _he heard another yawn before he got his reply.

"_**What time is it?" **_Naruto looked about him, then up at the sky to where the sun was beginning its lazy drift across the sky.

"_Around seven_." He heard an unpleasant groan and a small growl from his travelling companion.

"_**Why in the world would you wake this early?" **_Naruto continued to walk at a steady pace, considering her words. He had gotten up as early as possible for as long as he could remember, by now it was merely routine. He shrugged and somehow knew that the old fox had understood the gesture, even though he had said nothing. He heard more mumbled complaints before Kyuubi seemed to wake up properly. _**"We need to get you on a new schedule, we fox's are nocturnal creatures and it might suit us better to be shrouded by the night as we travel."**_

"_But I can't see in the dark." _Naruto heard a chuckle from his companion, a light, tinkling sound that was quite pleasant.

"_**Don't worry about that" **_The ancient demon left her statement hanging in the air without further explanation and Naruto didn't bother to ask, knowing that she would tell him when she was ready. It was strange that he barely knew this being yet he felt an intrinsic bond between them as if he had known her his whole life. It was disconcerting and comforting at the same time. They walked on further in silence, just the next stretch of road and the rhythmic sound of his feet on the weathered path.

Finally, after another hour of walking, the trees on either side became thicker and the foliage more dense. They were obviously in another forest, one unfamiliar to Naruto, a feeling he knew he was going to have to get used to; after all travelling was a whole new concept to the boy. He could almost feel the fox in his body examine their surroundings with more intent, the focus she outputted putting the ninja in training slightly on edge.

"_**Yes, this will do." **_Naruto rolled his eyes back as if he could look into his mind and patiently waited for the being to continue even as he continued walking. _**"Kit, stop here and move into the forest on the left for a bit, you'll know when to stop."**_The boy was hesitant to move from the safety of the road but believed he had to start trusting his passenger a bit more, being the older and probably wiser of the two. He did as was asked of him, pulling a sharp left and walking straight on through the thick brush, his ears now greeted by the sound of crunching leaves and the stronger sound of bird song.

It was peaceful and Naruto enjoyed the gentle and lulling sounds of the wildlife around him. Eventually he walked through a line of trees into a small clearing with a river running off to one side and a thick wall of trees surrounding it like a perimeter wall. Naruto marvelled at how this one patch of grounds seemed unattainable to the forest, holding back the tide of nature inexplicably to preserve this tranquil place. He felt this is what the old fox meant when she said he would know when to stop so he leaned back against a tree and waited; he didn't have to for very long.

"_**Perfect, this will suit you excellently"**_ Naruto was starting to become very curious now, the fox wasn't letting anything on and he hated not knowing something, especially when it involved him. Even so, he maintained his patience and allowed his tenant to finish in her own time; for the normally impatient and impulsive boy it was an amazing show of restraint that he felt his new friend deserved. _**"Now Kit, I assume you still wish to become a shinobi, and a powerful one at that, am I right?"**_

"_Of course!" _Naruto nodded vigorously with his statement even though he knew the gesture was wasted on somebody who couldn't see it. He earned a chuckle from the ancient creature at his enthusiasm.

"_**Good, because now I will be your teacher." **_Naruto's eyes swelled to the size of dinner plates, he couldn't believe his luck. He had teachers before of course but they obviously disliked him, holding him back whenever they could but now he had a teacher that was not only powerful, but his friend as well. He was so excited he almost missed Kyuubi continuing, he only heard because it was hard not to when the voice was inside your head.

"_**I warn you Kit, I am a thorough teacher and I have ways of ensuring your cooperation." **_The tone was more menacing than Naruto was used to and it made him gulp, however the old fox immediately lightened up. _**"Of course the benefits you will reap will be great." **_Naruto smiled broadly, it was exactly what he wanted after all. _**"All you must do is accept." **_Naruto immediately nodded, not even thinking it through beforehand.

"_**No Kit, I must hear you say it." **_Naruto took a breath to calm his excited nerves hover he could do nothing to remove the smile plastered on his face.

"_I accept you as my Sensei Kyuubi" _Even in his own head Naruto could barely keep the excitement from his voice. He heard a deep throaty laugh that sounded a lot more like Kyuubi's original, androgynous voice than the more feminine one he had become used to.

"_**Excellent, let's begin then." **_And that was the last thing Naruto heard before pain shot through his head and he blacked out.

* * *

Hours later, and he knew that because it was obvious the sun had set a long time ago, Naruto slowly got up from where he had laid sprawled out on the forest floor. He had his eyes closed and was rubbing the side of his head against the throbbing headache that had suddenly settled behind his eyes. After some time it died down into a light ache that he could live with and he opened his eyes. Amazingly when he looked around he could have sworn it was early morning, instead of the late hour he knew it must be.

Everything he saw had somehow lightened; the colours were more vivid and everything was much clearer than it ought to be when it was so late and dark. Naruto wasn't even sure how he knew that it was dark, but he did; if he had to guess he would say it was something to do with his body clock. He was cut off from is musings by a light chuckle that washed the thoughts from his mind.

"_**Now this is a more appropriate time to wake up, don't you think Kit?" **_Naruto was still at a loss for words and couldn't answer Kyuubi who just settled on another laugh before continuing. _**"So are you enjoying the upgrade?" **_Naruto continued to look baffled, not that the old fox could see that but she had been with the kid long enough to know what would and wouldn't startle him. Eventually he rallied himself together, turning his attention inwards, away from his unsettlingly excellent vision.

"_What did you do to me?" _It came out slightly more accusatory than he had intended but the feeling behind the words was clear.

"_**What? Don't you like it?" **_Kyuubi put on a mock-hurt voice and Naruto could practically feel the pout and puppy dog eyes the old creature was directing at him. It worked all the same and Naruto found himself buckling, it turned out even a female fox held emotional sway over him.

"_No I didn't say that, I just wanted to know what you did." _He tried to put on a placating tone and it worked as Kyuubi suddenly turned happy again, at least it appeared that way to the emotionally naive boy.

"_**Oh in that case then it's okay." **_Naruto found himself wishing he was in his mindscape right now so that he could enjoy the beam the fox was obviously levelling at him. _**"I just messed about with your senses a bit." **_Naruto gulped at the thought of an ancient demon playing about with his senses like a mechanic might a piece of machinery. Then he latched onto the second thing he noticed about her statement.

"_Wait a second, sense's'?" _He put heavy emphasis on the plural nature of the word, only to be met by another chuckle form the older creature.

"_**Of course, why would I only improve your sense of sight when I can open a whole new world of feeling for you? You humans use your body's potential so sparingly. Smell, hearing, taste; all as valid as sight, some even more so."**_Naruto briefly pondered how taste could possibly be more useful that sight but let it slide as he realised something else.

"_My hearing isn't any better." _Sure enough the birdsong in the air and the gentle rustling of the leave in the tree could be heard no more clearly than when he had passed out.

"_**Of course not, the sensory overload from all four senses being finely tuned at once might have knocked you out again. It is only because sight is your main reliance I was able to bring all the changes to the forefront." **_he quickly, and rather smugly in Naruto's opinion, added on _**"Including your new ability to see much better in the dark."**_

"So what does that mean for my hearing?" Kyuubi sighed and wondered why the boy was so fixated on hearing after she had explicitly told him all of his senses would improve.

"_**The other senses will improve slowly, you will begin to notice the changes by tomorrow and by the end of the month you will be used to your new abilities, as well as being able to use them effectively." **_Naruto nodded, satisfied and slightly excited. He was anxious for the time when he would get to experience the world like an animal, not just relying on his eyes to see the world. It was something Shinobi actually strove towards and he knew that, to actually be in tune with the world enough that your ears and nose were just as valuable as your eyes.

"_**Anyway Kit, I didn't just bring you to this clearing for the scenery, I think it would be best to begin your training as soon as possible." **_Naruto nodded, only happy to agree with the fox's verdict. He sat under the tree he had fallen near and eagerly awaited his new teacher's first lesson with barely suppressed glee. _**"Now Kit, tell me everything you know about chakra..."**_

* * *

Kyuubi had to correct a great deal of Naruto's knowledge, not just about Chakra as after that they had gone through a number of things. They had covered the basics of being a ninja; Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu as well as their applications. She had been disappointed when the boy had displayed little to no interest in Genjutsu, obviously thinking them useless in combat. It was a mentality she assured herself she would remove from the boy.

Starting to understand how Naruto saw thing she tried to put everything in words and phrases he would understand. She also tried to make what she said as interesting and as relevant as possible, not wanting to lose his interest for a moment. It seemed to be working as the boy sat there, rapt with attention and happiness at finally being taught properly. She was genuinely surprised that when she pointed out flaw, gaps and errors in the boy's knowledge he only seemed eager to correct them.

He proved to be a good student and after a while, as well as a few stories and examples of their actual use in combat, she even managed to get him interested in Genjutsu. It was mostly through telling him that the best ninja were those that utilised every advantage available to them. If one could distract their opponent even for a few seconds in the heat of combat then they had an immediate advantage.

It was obvious that his main focus was on chakra, what it could do, how you form and refine it as well as how to use it to its fullest extent. After a lot of shouting she eventually hammered in the point that chakra control was just as important as volume. It made her wonder how the boy could be the perfect and attentive student one second and a stubborn brat the next. She sighed to herself out of the boy's earshot; with her immense chakra contained within her body, as well as the large amount he was instinctively using to suppress hers, chakra control would be anything but easy for the boy.

However she knew how hard he trained and if he applied that same mentality to his new regiment then she was sure he could master just about anything. She also made sure to look out for anything that could help speed the whole process up; not shortcuts exactly but ways to improve his learning rate. Shocked out of her internal monologue she realised light was beginning to stream through the tree trunks as morning finally came. Naruto wasn't tired but she insisted he rest; it would be better if he became nocturnal like she was as soon as possible.

After he settled down for the night and she felt his conscious mind drift off Kyuubi was finally left to her own devices in the boy's mindscape. Ever since he had created the place she hadn't ceased to be amazed by its precision and intricacy. It took her a surprisingly long time to work out that the whole place was one massive loop. She would run in one direction for as long as possible and only end up right back where she had started, it was a seamless transition, one she knew he should be proud of.

At the same time she knew that he wasn't even aware of just how amazing his own accomplishment was. She blamed the villagers for that, beating out any sense of self-pride the boy had left and it sickened her to the core. She was hardly one to talk, having killed her fair share over the centuries but even so she had never turned on her own kind before, except Shukaku but the crazy biju hardly counted.

She pushed the thoughts to one side for the moment, thankful that at least Naruto had gotten out of the village. Especially before he had formed any real attachments that might have given him a false sense of loyalty. Instead she concentrated on how she was going to train the boy, chakra control would be easy, requiring very little actual input on her part. She would merely set him a task and let him go about it until he was competent enough to do so on his own, then set him the next stage up.

She was still going to have to find him a real trainer, a human one to be more precise. Despite her immeasurable power and wisdom, there was a limit to what she could offer the boy when it came to physical training and actual jutsu. It was one thing to show someone a few hand signs and explain the concept of a technique, it was another to actually demonstrate it and help them learn it. Taijutsu would also be a problem. And while she supposed she could teach him in his own mindscape, without actually doing it with his body she felt its effects would weaken.

She banished these thoughts as well after a while, confident that when he came to a hidden village these problems would solve themselves. If not then they would move on to the next; whilst she was hopeful that her container could become strong, and quickly, she knew they were in no rush for the foreseeable future. With those comforting thoughts she allowed herself to drift off into her own sleep, intending to wake Naruto up when night fell. She knew that after getting used to waking up with the light as opposed to the lack of it he would have difficulty adjusting.


	4. Chapter 4

The next week was one of many new experiences for Naruto, training under Kyuubi was nothing like what he had expected. It was long and difficult and all the time they had to stop to do the various exercises really cut into his travel time. She kept assuring him that they were in no rush but even so Naruto felt anxious, or at least he would have done if he wasn't able to do anything except fall into an exhausted sleep every night.

Her training regiment was brutal, especially for his young body. From the moment he woke up she would have him doing physical exercises. There was nothing too extreme there as she didn't want to impede his growth but it was enough that he started to feel noticeable changes to his speed and strength. After a light lunch she would have him performing various chakra control exercises that would leave Naruto feeling even more run down than the physical ones, having to focus for seemingly unending periods of time was a challenge for a usually hyperactive seven year old.

She had told him that his eventual goal would be to climb trees without his hands but that just sounded strange to him. Until then she had him slowly advancing through the more menial exercises. The one he hated the most was the leaf exercise. He would gently burn the centre of a leaf and Kyuubi would instruct him to stop the flames from spreading only with his chakra. It was tiring, difficult, and it made Naruto singe his hands more than a few times.

However nothing could stop the satisfied feeling he got when Kyuubi congratulated him on advancing a stage or making even a little progress. It worked in motivating him further and making him try harder and his concentration grew in leaps and bounds. It was enough that he could now willingly enter his mindscape through a form of meditation without any help from his tenant whatsoever.

That was where he spent his evenings now, after a day of tiring his body and spirit he would join the old fox in his mindscape and she would set about wearing down his mind. She would teach him anything from geography to tactics and he would soak it up like a sponge. She had a way of making everything sound fascinating to the boy and more than once he found himself wishing for a library to keep learning about everything. It wouldn't have helped him though, after his training and lessons he would feel so tired that his he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Sleeping during the day posed its own challenges for the boy apart from the obvious body-clock adjustment it forced him to hide up in trees, which wasn't the most comfortable way to sleep. As well as that he found himself being woken up when the odd ray of sunlight would find its way through the tree he was in and land straight on his closed eyes. Of course Kyuubi would happily sleep through it all, ignorant to the boy's suffering.

After a while, when his concentration began to grow and his body's exhaustion increased it became less of an issue and soon he was practically a nocturnal creature himself. With his new sense of sight, navigating the thick forests was simple; everything was clear and visible as if it were midday. It meant he could safely travel at a decent pace, not as fast as if they had used the paths and road but still enough to meet Kyuubi's liking.

She hadn't been lying when she said he would begin to notice the changes to his other senses soon. The very morning after she had told him he had woken up because he could smell the scent of a rabbit run off from where it had been peacefully napping. He had the strangest urge to run after it but managed to control himself when his mind caught up to his waking body. He didn't mind the smell, he could quickly put it to good use in hunting for food and smelling out danger; it was the hearing that took the most getting used to.

Every bird call and cicada's chirp nearly drove him insane, actually forcing himself to tie a strip of cloth around his ears until he grew accustomed to it. After a while though he did begin to see the benefits; where before he had thought himself a master of stealth he could now hear every soft footstep on the ground. It allowed him to work on it and while it would take a long time for him to walk in a way that he couldn't hear, once he did he would be nigh undetectable by that means.

The same was true for his sense of smell, waking up to his own sweat in the mornings was never pleasant. It was so bad that he had taken to washing before he went to sleep and after he wake up, as well as a midday soak if his training had been particularly intense. The change was welcomed, instead of body odour and sweat he woke up to only the gentle scents of the wildlife and plants around him, a marked improvement.

He would have loved to have said the same thing about his breath but when he had left the village oral hygiene hadn't been high up his priorities, something he sorely regretted. He made sure to remember for the next time they went through a village. He didn't have a lot of money left but now that he was learning to hunt and food became less of an issue he figured he had more to spend on other things.

Clothes for instance were something he was really lacking in and another thing that was now shifted on his priorities. While he could always wash himself of any scents, his clothes were a whole other story; cold water alone just wouldn't cut it. The stale smell of his own shirt especially, considering he only had the two, was beginning to make his nose twitch whenever he was unfortunate enough to cross a breeze.

Kyuubi knew of his growing discomfort and began to lead him towards a village she thought would be there. Her information was seven years out of date but it was large when she had been sealed so she figured it was probably still there. If it was ruins then she could incorporate that into her students training. Much of the land of fire and the surrounding nations had left over ruins from the first, second and third shinobi wars and navigating them would become invaluable training for actual urban infiltration, without any of the dangers of being spotted.

They broke out of the dense foliage of the forest that Naruto had spent the last week surviving in onto a broad, obviously well used, road. It was clear of travellers in both directions and Naruto set off in the direction Kyuubi pointed him in. He was in an exceptionally good mood tonight, even for him, as Kyuubi had finally allowed him to advance from the more remedial control exercises to the tree climbing and it didn't disappoint.

Of course her explanation had been short and vague; she wanted to see just how much Naruto could grasp on his own. All he knew was that it had something to do with directing chakra to your feet, anything else he had to work out as he went. Unfortunately for him on that first day his view of the world was his undoing. To a seven year old, walking up a tree without your hands seems like the greatest challenge in the world; naturally he had put as much chakra into his feet as he could.

Whilst he was only seven, Naruto was still an Uzumaki and his chakra reserves were exceptional for one so young. Of course this meant that when he had placed his foot on the first tree he was immediately sent shooting back across the clearing to land in a painful heap almost thirty feet away. When his vision cleared and all the spots were gone he looked back to where he had been and only saw the shattered stump of what used to be a tree.

He visibly gulped and learnt something that day, it wasn't about how much chakra you put into something, it was about using the right amount for the right situation. It was a lesson that would become invaluable to him over the years and when he was older he would be able to trace it back to this point. His next few attempts weren't much better and whilst he didn't destroy any more trees he wasn't having much success actually sticking to them. That didn't mean he had given up, he tried until he used up every last ounce of chakra in his body, falling into an exhausted sleep that even the sun couldn't pull him out of.

That was why he was grinning broadly as he walked along the road with the stars and moon as his only illumination. Despite his failures he still knew that Kyuubi believed him ready for this next step and he wasn't going to disappoint her. He only now started to realise just why she stressed control over everything else, maintaining a small, constant flow of chakra wasn't easy. At least she had told him that if he could do it to his feet then in theory the rest of his body would be no problem.

An unfortunate and unforeseen side-effect of the young boy's good mood was that his senses hadn't been on full alert. If they had been then he would have been able to smell his three followers before they had gotten close enough that it was too late for him to run. As it was, the scent of sweat, metal and another that felt familiar but he couldn't place, was on him before he could properly react.

"Well looky here boys, we got ourselves a runt out on his own." Naruto immediately spun to see the three blatant bandits standing easily in the middle of the road, one's hands twitched over the hilt of the sword by his side and the other two stood calmly and watching him. The one in the middle, the obvious leader of the trio, stepped forward, far too close for Naruto's liking. He was a scrawny man but there was no hiding the well toned body he hid under the baggy clothing designed to make his enemies underestimate him; he stank of the unidentified smell the worst.

"A small lad like you, young, fit and healthy; oh yeah, you'll do great as a slave, probably at least enough for us to live comfortably for a week." He grinned as he said it, taking another step towards Naruto in a menacing fashion whilst one of his friends casually walked around the boy to cut off his escape. "Come with us easy and we won't mess you up to badly okay?" His words were dripping in sarcasm and malice at this point, "The buyers generally don't like 'em scratched up too bad."

His two companions joined in on their grin and Naruto continued to be rooted to the floor in panic, unable to move. Calling out was pointless, there was nobody around for miles to hear him and it would only serve to anger his captors. He was so caught up he didn't notice the largest of the three, the one that had walked around to his back, approach him and roughly grab him. He was hoisted into the air and firmly held against the large man's chest in an unwavering grip.

"Perfect, that wasn't so difficult now was it?" The three continued to hold their malicious sneers before they formed up and continued to walk down the road. "And here I was thinking you might be one of them ninja brats, guess I was wrong." The large man who was holding him let out a laugh, an unpleasant noise that caused Naruto to wince as it reached his sensitive ears. The last of the trio, the twitchy looking man with the sword kept throwing glances at their latest capture.

"H-Hey boss, what's wrong with the kid's eyes? They're red, eyes ain't supposed to be red are they? I ain't never seen red eyes before, I seen really dark brown an' I seen those weird purple ones but I ain't never seen red eyes. What about those pupils too, all slitted like a cat? That ain't normal I'm telling you boss-"

"Shut up Tazu!" His leader's words immediately stopped the smaller man and he settled into an uncomfortable silence. Naruto had hard time hearing any of what the thin man had said as most of it had been said at an ungodly speed and sounded like the babblings of a moron. However he knew it was about him, something to do with his eyes being red. Except his eyes were blue which made no sense, and what was that about his pupils being slits?

Apparently he wasn't the only one made curious by the jittery man's hasty words as the large man carrying him adjusted his position. He was curious o see what his partner was going on about; usually he would tune out Tazu's babblings but the thing about the kid's eyes had gotten him interested. He shifted the kid until his face was turned towards his own and he examined the kid's eyes, seeing nothing but normal blue ones, nothing out of the ordinary at all.

Naruto suddenly found himself in an odd position, facing towards the ugly brute of the man that was currently carrying him. His legs were braced against the man's muscled stomach and he couldn't help but draw parallels between this position and his tree walking exercise, the man definitely fit the description of a tree trunk with legs. His mind working in overdrive flashed back to the image of the shattered tree stump that was his first attempt at tree-walking.

It was like his body was on auto-pilot, automatically sending all the chakra it could muster in such a short time towards his feet. They only glowed an ominous blue for a moment before Naruto relived that first attempt and was sent flying backwards at a dangerous speed. He impacted with the ground painfully, digging out a small shallow trench that marked his impact. It didn't take him long to gather his sense and get to his feet where he could see two of the bandits stare at something on the floor with incredulity.

From his position Naruto couldn't see what they were looking at but when he stood up he looked at it in horror. Naruto, being only seven, couldn't be blamed for failing to know about the conservation of momentum. When he had performed the explosive chakra manoeuvre he had only been expecting to be pushed away from the brute of a man. He wasn't to know that for him to move one way, something had to move the other.

That something just happened to be the man, and the other way just happened to be towards the tree line of the forest around them. As it was, he was currently impaled up to the trunk on a large, unfortunately sharp branch that protruded out of the tree like a hedgehog's quill. Naruto just stood and looked on with one part curiosity and ten parts shock as he watched the small river of red run from the whole in the man's chest to form a steadily growing puddle around his feet.

Even in death the man seemed just as incredulous as his companions, his faze frozen into a pale look of shock as he looked down at the branch protruding from his chest, right where his heart should have been. The entire branch was coated in thick blood that caught the moonlight, adding to the already horrible scene currently being etched into Naruto's memory. The leader of the trio-turned-duo was the first to recover, having seen his fair share of death and his gaze flicked between his late companion and the small boy who had somehow killed him.

"You! I'll kill you, you little brat!" That was enough to shock Naruto out of his own daze and allowed him to turn and make off in the opposite direction to the older man. Despite his training, despite how fast he had become it just wasn't a match yet for a grown adult and the older man caught up to him. He roughly grabbed Naruto's hand, spinning him and throwing him off balance at the same time.

He was holding a viscous-looking serrated knife high up, ready to plunge it into the kid who had hurt his companion. There was an evil sneer across his face and his eyes burned with fury, not even caring that it was a seven year old boy he was about to kill. Naruto closed his eyes, awaiting the final blow that would take his life as he cringed back, falling onto the ground unceremoniously.

He only cracked an eye open when the blow didn't come after a few seconds and he looked up at the man with the knife. The vicious snarl was still here, but now it looked frozen in place, his eyes too had lost their gleam and Naruto quickly understood why when he suddenly dropped to his knees, followed quickly by slumping forward to lie, unmoving in the middle of the road. He had five shuriken buried in his back, except there was something weird about them; they were white instead of the usual grey and they were each as thin as paper.

Naruto looked around for their source but couldn't see or smell anybody nearby, except for the last of the trio still alive who had just caught up to his leader when the shuriken had embedded themselves into his back. He was now standing, quite scared, with his sword drawn and furtively looking into every shadow he could find, trying to find the source of the attack. He didn't have to wait long as five more of the odd shuriken flew out a random shadow in his direction.

He may not have been a ninja but his reflexes were good enough to deflect two of them, while two others sailed past him and the last grazed his shoulder, drawing a thin line of blood. He was panicking now, spinning wildly and waiting for the next assault, this time it was more direct. Paper flew out of the forest on both sides, sheets of it, except it wasn't directed at the man. They all seemed to congregate in the space between him and Naruto.

They glued themselves to one another and slowly took on the shape of a cloaked figure before colour leaked into them and the attacker stood there as if they had been there all along. The swordsman had seen enough and quickly dropped his weapon before sprinting off in the opposite direction. Apparently the attacker wasn't satisfied with this outcome and quickly dispersed into the numerous sheets of paper again.

Each one miraculously transformed themselves into tiny paper aeroplanes and sailed off at unimaginable speed. Naruto, who had been watching all of this with fear and curiosity though whoever it was, was just going to cut off the bandit. However they surprised him when the aeroplanes showed no signs of slowing down. They were all aimed at his back and in the time it took for Naruto to blink, they were stuck in his back like kunai, hundreds of them, each creating a small trickle of blood.

He was dead before his head hit the path and the paper was already reforming itself into the ominous figure. They walked back over to Naruto who was still paralysed in his position on the ground and looked down at him. He couldn't see their face from the shadow cast by their hood but he took their hand when it was offered to him. He was more than surprised when what came out of the sleeve of the cloak was a small, feminine hand with bright purple nail polish on each of the nails.

She helped him to his feet and with her free hand she lowered the hood of her cloak, revealing her face. She was a woman of around twenty, maybe in her late teens but she had eyes that had seen much more than one should in such a brief span, much like Naruto's own. She had a shock of blue hair that went past her neck with a small paper flower nestled in two of her indigo locks. She had no other discern able features that would make her stand out in a crowd, unless you counted her seemingly orange eyes, except that might have been a trick of the light.

She projected a very neutral atmosphere, her eyes were dulled and apathetic to everything they gazed on and her mouth seemed set a position of indifference. She looked at Naruto once with those same half-lidded eyes and motioned with her head to the road before walking off. Naruto quickly understood and walked after her, not willing to say anything to the strange woman unless she spoke first, especially after the display he had seen.

After a while of walking in unbearable silence he had to break that self imposed rule as he hated long periods like this.

"Thank you" It was quiet and meek, far from his usual voice but the woman acknowledged it all the same with a curt nod.

"You do not have to thank me, those men were scum and deserved to die. Slavery is pitiful." Her voice barely changed pitch throughout her entire sentence, staying the same deadpan, emotionless tone.

"I'm Naruto" he was growing more confident now that the woman seemed to have no ill will against him. Again she replied with the same nod but her pace didn't change.

"Konan." They continued on for a while in another oppressive silence that seemed to surround the mysterious woman. Naruto couldn't think of anything else to ask that would jeopardize his position so kept quite as well. At the pace Konan was setting it didn't take them long to reach the next village and they passed through its gates without any problem from the guards, although Naruto did notice that Konan had put her hood back up.

They wound through the streets until Konan stopped in front of an inauspicious inn that Naruto might have missed if he had been alone. She quickly walked in and Naruto nervously followed her, wondering where the strange woman was taking him, and more importantly why he was following. They walked upstairs and she knocked on one of the few doors that were obviously rented rooms. It opened with a creak and Naruto saw someone who surpassed Konan in emitting an impassive and cold aura.

His dark red hair hung low over his face, obscuring his eyes and his skin was very pale to the point of looking almost sickly. He took one glance between them but his eyes, hidden as they were, lingered longer on Naruto.

"Who is the child?" Konan shrugged and only offered a one-word reply.

"Slavers" It was enough to satisfy the other man and he stepped aside to allow them entry. The room was plain, nothing fancy about it, just thin walls and a few beds as well as a small mirror hanging on a far wall. He was roused out of his semi-stupor when Konan kept talking. "And this?" he didn't know what she was talking about until he turned to see a small red-haired girl of about his own age asleep on one of the beds, she was obviously what Konan was motioning to. The red haired man offered his own shrug and in an equally curt way offered his own answer.

"Orphan" Konan's eyes narrowed slightly but she nodded, Naruto noted there was obviously something about orphans that affected these people.

"And you know this how?" The man just looked at her in that same, dead-eyes way that conveyed nothing to Naruto but Konan seemed to understand. "Where is Yahiko?" The man offered no reply again and Konan sighed, again Naruto was left out of the loop as Konan obviously understood everything that was happening. By now the minimalist conversation had roused the red-haired girl from sleep and she was blearily sitting up, rubbing her eyes.

She looked around at the two adults and her eyes stopped on Naruto, but she didn't say anything. Naruto had completely missed the very hushed conversation between Konan and her companion but caught the end of it where they seemed to come to some kind of agreement. The man looked around at Naruto but he firmly pointed his finger at the girl.

"You boy, you will protect this girl." Naruto looked at him, shock written across his face as his eyebrows tried to climb higher into his hairline.

"What!?" Naruto couldn't see but he could definitely feel the man's eyes narrowing under his natural hood of hair.

"I do not like to repeat myself." The voice was cold and emotionless but it conveyed enough malice to make Naruto gulp and quieten down. "Wherever you are going, you will take this girl and you will make sure she comes to no harm. Am I understood?" Naruto could only nod meekly, he didn't know that it was killer intent being levelled at him right now; all he wanted was for it to stop. It did so when the man saw his answer and he returned to his normal emotionless state before taking one look at Konan and walking out of the room.

The blue-haired woman glanced between the two shocked children and held out her hand; in it a sheet of paper just appeared and wrapped itself up into an intricate flower, more so than the one in her own hair. She touched it with a finger and colour leaked in from the point of contact and the flower quickly became blood red. If she was satisfied with the result she didn't show it. She motioned for the two children to come closer and they did so, Naruto looked over at the redhead and she looked back, both were just as clueless as each other.

Konan plucked a paper petal from the flower and held it in front of her for a moment; Naruto could have sworn he saw it glow for just a moment. She then did the same for another of the petals before quickly, before either child could react, pressing a petal into each of their arms, just below the wrist. It burned for a moment, making Naruto wince, he was used to pain but nobody was immune. He gritted his teeth but it seemed that the girl wasn't quite as desensitized as him as she let out a yelp of surprise and pain.

The petal wasn't there anymore and if the few glances through watery eyes were anything to go by it had simply burnt away. In its place, on both of the children's wrists was a small mark in the shape of the petal. Naruto and the girl both rubbed it to try and ease the lingering burning sensation that the process had left behind; when they looked back up from their marked wrists they saw that Konan was already gone.

Naruto looked across at the young girl who was still rubbing her wrist and looking at the mark with a mixture between wonder and annoyance. She seemed to notice his gaze and turned to look at him. Naruto got his first real good look at the girl; she had piercing green eyes that he immediately noticed were filled with the same pain as his own, loneliness seemed to cling to the girl like a shroud. Her hair was the most impossible, vibrant shade of red, as if it had been drawn instead of grown.

He noticed that the girl seemed to be doing the same thing to him, sizing him up and curiously looking at him. Her upper lip was slightly curled into the makings of a snarl and her eyes projected a defensive atmosphere, she was obviously used to being on her own. When she seemed done with her examination of him she narrowed her eyes and took a step back.

"What the fuck's up with your eyes?"


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto stood open mouthed staring at the girl, partly because of the language she had used and partly because of what she had said. He broke out of the stupor when she shot him a strange look and he turned to look in the mirror. Much to his surprise when he did so, it wasn't what he had expected. The person who looked back at him from the grease-stained glass didn't have his usual vibrant cerulean eyes, instead they were a demonic red and the pupils had transformed into slits that went from top side of the iris to the bottom.

The girl kept looking at him strangely; it looked like the kid had never seen his eyes before. The way he was staring at his own face made her raise an eyebrow; the shock on his face was priceless. Naruto on the other hand was anything but amused.

"_Kyuubi! What the hell is happening to my eyes?" _He heard a hurried groan and he could picture the startled fox wearily rubbing her eyes.

"_**Oh, have you only just noticed? Sorry I guess I forgot to mention it." **_Naruto continued to stare slack-jawed at his reflection.

"_What do you mean you forgot?! And what is this?" _He heard the creature let out a short chuckle which didn't do anything to calm his slowly growing irritation.

"_**How exactly did you think I altered your sight kit? Don't worry, you'll get used to them" **_She also added with no small amount of mock sensuality _**"Plus I think they look good on you." **_Naruto was left pretty speechless after that, not quite sure how to process all of this. When it appeared his brain had actually short-circuited the demon sighed wearily. _**"If you really hate it that much then the first jutsu I'll teach you will be the henge, then you can cover it up all you like."**_

Despite trying to sound nonchalant a small amount of disappointment managed to creep into the ancient beings voice. She had honestly believed Naruto wouldn't mind all that much, they were just eyes after all and it was like having his own dojutsu. He managed to snap himself out of it when he detected the hint of hurt in her voice however; Naruto, no matter how old, was still useless around women.

"_I-It's not that bad... I'd just rather you'd have told me about it sooner." _He didn't get a reply but he did hear a small snore fade away into his subconscious that caused him to grind his teeth. Throughout their entire internal conversation Naruto had completely forgotten about the red-haired girl who had pointed out his eyes in the first place. Being quite impatient, she quickly remedied this in her own unique way.

"Hey shithead, you still with me?" Naruto turned, startled and a little angered by the name, only just noticing her presence. She had moved closer to him while he had been out of it and now only stood a foot away from him, watching him curiously. He was again reminded, when he looked into her eyes, that they reflected his own; there was the same pain and loneliness. He was only seven but Naruto was well-versed in the use of emotional masks to hide one's pain.

It was obvious that this girl had taken a different option to Naruto when that choice was thrust upon her. Instead of becoming overly nice and cheerful to win people over, she emitted a defensive wall of fake anger and irritability to drive them away. The most obvious example of this was the language she used; being from a rather old-fashioned place in that aspect Naruto wasn't quite used to the insults. Of course people would call him names but they were generally more hurtful than vulgar.

"What did you call me?" It wasn't said angrily; now that he at least somewhat knew her situation he couldn't hold it against her for not trusting him.

"What, you got crap in your ears? Want me to spell it out?" Naruto smirked; her attitude was cold and designed to push people away, he rationalised that if somebody were to just push through that they could help her. He didn't know why but some intrinsic part of him wanted to be that person. Maybe some of his mask really had bled into his real personality as right now he just wanted to help this girl.

"Sorry, I guess it's because I didn't tell you my name." He stuck out a hand. "Naruto Uzumaki." The girl seemed startled by the response, usually by now she had people running away from her or looking at her disapprovingly, in the case of adults. Instead this kid ignored her insults completely; it kind of pissed her off. She glared at the hand like it would give her a disease and made a good show of crossing her arms in response.

"No, I called you shithead 'cause you look like someone with shit in their head." He laughed, something that irritated the girl to no end, just who was this kid and why could he just shrug her off like this?

"Does that mean I can call you angry eyes?" The girl was taken aback by his remark, not only had he completely ignoring her attempts at insulting him but he had answered in kind. She glared at him and in return his smile broadened. She tried to give him her coldest, most hateful look and he yawned, exaggerating the movement to show he was unperturbed.

"Jut who the fuck are you anyway?" He finished yawning and his smile returned.

"I told you, it's Naruto." She glared at him again.

"I'm not deaf shithead I mean why are you acting like this, being nice and shit?" Naruto looked at her curiously then shrugged.

"Why shouldn't I be?" The casual nature of the reply took the girl by surprise and in all honesty she couldn't think of a reply, or at least one that wouldn't make her seem petty. Instead her mouth just opened and closed like a fish on dry land. That sight only caused Naruto to break out into laughter, simultaneously enraging the fiery-haired girl and breaking her out of her state of shock.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?!" Naruto thought it was a silly question and didn't even stop laughing to answer, the words coming out in gasps between laughs.

"Your face... so funny... couldn't help it... like a fish" He couldn't get any more out before she started advancing on him menacingly. However as soon as she brought a fist back to knock the obnoxious kid right between the eyes, he vanished. She looked around startled after a while, questioning her sanity for a moment before a voice right behind her shocked her out of her skin.

"You gotta be quicker than that angry eyes." She could feel the smirk radiating off the boy and she instantly turned, fist ready to finish the punch that had failed; only he wasn't there.

"Oh, that time was a little closer." This time the voice came from above her and when she looked up she saw the kid sitting on one of the rafters in the small room.

"Stop moving shithead." He shot her a curious look and tilted his head like a dog who didn't quite understand his master's command.

"Why would I do that angry eyes? Then you'd hit me." She glared at him, letting out a small, very unlady-like growl in his direction.

"That's the idea shithead! And stop calling me that!" He laughed again, only briefly this time, and dropped to the floor right in front of her.

"Well I can't call you your name, you haven't told me yet. I at least told you mine." She levelled a glare at him but couldn't see the flaw in the kid's logic.

"Tayuya" he smiled, finally having a name to put with the face, he stuck out his hand again.

"Nice to meet you Tayuya" Tayuya gave him exactly the same response as last time but this time added a huff in for good measure. Naruto may have been acting goofy around her but by this point he was extremely curious to know what had happened to Tayuya to make her so jaded against the world. He didn't want to ask though, he knew it would be a touchy subject; hell if anybody asked him about his past he would be saddened as well.

"Well anyway Tayuya, that scary dude with no eyes told me I gotta look after you, if he's anything like Konan then I'm not breaking that promise." She looked at him incredulously, when the guy who she knew to be called Nagato had said that she had thought that the kid would just walk straight out of here and never give her a backwards glance. The shock on his face when he had said it immediately told her that it wasn't his idea yet he was actually going to do it?

"What the hell? I'm not going running after some shithead that will probably get me killed within a day!" Naruto's smile finally dropped, instead replaced with a more neutral, collected expression that seemed out of place after the way he had just acted.

"Then where do you plan on going?" The question caught her off guard and without a proper response she was left with that same open-mouth expression she had earlier. This time Naruto suppressed his chuckle, knowing that it wouldn't do him any good.

"Well I need to get going so if you're coming with me then we need to go now while it's still dark." Tayuya shot him a murderous look with a snarl for effect and Naruto just shrugged before walking out of the room with his hands in his pockets. Tayuya started when she didn't get her desired effect. She watched the boy leave the small room with her feet firmly rooted in place, adamant that she wasn't going to follow some idiot to certain death.

After a few moments though her mind continued to work and she realised that, with the way he had avoided her punches, as well as the way Nagato had chosen him to protect her, he must have at least some skill. Right now, with no other options and nowhere else to go this kid as literally her best choice. However she would be damned if she was going to admit out loud that there was just something about him that intrigued her.

"Argh Dammit! Wait up Shithead!" She ran out of the room only to nearly trip up as she saw Naruto nonchalantly leaning up against the opposite wall of the corridor, grinning at her. She glared at him again and grumbled a few choice words in his direction. "Well then, where the hell are we going?" Naruto couldn't help but smile a bit when she had said 'we' it made him feel strange and he briefly wondered if this was what having a friend felt like.

"Sunagakure." Tayuya was a little put off; the village hidden in the sand was an odd destination.

"Why?" She seemed to have struck a cord there as Naruto's grin immediately dropped from his face and for the very first time, Tayuya was allowed a glimpse behind the mask. What she saw was pain, loneliness, suffering and sadness, all blended together in the boy's eyes. It seemed almost too much for a seven year old to have had in his life but she had seen it for herself. As quickly as it had dropped the mask sprung back into place, although the smile was small and weaker than before.

"I had to leave my home." Tayuya didn't press any further; it wasn't that she didn't want to know; in fact he had actually gotten her pretty interested with that small display of emotion. It was the fact that if she started delving into his past then he might get some funny ideas and start asking his own questions. She just nodded simply and Naruto turned away, walking out of the building with his new red-haired companion in tow.

* * *

They had about two hours until the sun came up and Tayuya complained the entire time. Naruto just kept walking, tuning out the worst of it; he knew she was only doing it because she wasn't happy with the situation, not because she actually had anything to complain about. He simply talked to Kyuubi for a lot of the time, having their usual lesson, only in his head as opposed to his mindscape. The old fox only seemed amused at the news of his new travelling companion and kept making jokes about it during their lesson, to the point where he simply ignored the both of them.

That proved especially difficult when one of the people you were trying to ignore was inside your head and the other was only a few feet from you. He gritted his teeth and bore it, knowing that he would at least have sleep to look forward to. Eventually It was about time to start winding down for the night and he pulled over into a nearby clearing. He had gotten better at finding them over the week as he would locate a river or stream and follow it.

They eventually found a decent-sized space about twenty feet wide with a stream large enough that Naruto could wash himself in it. First though he went about setting up the usual camp supplies while Tayuya watched his practised motions with barely hidden interest. She had been surviving on her own for a while now but never in a total wilderness like this before. It was interesting to see the way he prioritised things like getting a fire going before collecting water to boil.

She noticed the distinct lack of a tent and was nearly appalled when he only brought out two blankets. He seemed indifferent and threw her the other blanket, it was still late autumn and he knew it would be cold without the second blanket but he would survive until they came across another village where he could pick up supplies. He mentally cursed himself all of a sudden, he had been in a town and forgot to pick up the various supplies he needed but he put it down to the strange events and put it behind him.

"Hey shithead, do you really expect me to just sleep with a blanket?" He looked at her curiously, wondering if this was genuine or another false complaint. When he noticed just how cold it was he realised she was serious.

"Well I don't have anything else but we could share body heat." Tayuya eye's opened wide at that statement, in no small part because he had said it completely seriously with no hint of a joke.

"Are you crazy or just fucking stupid? I'm not sleeping with you!" Naruto furrowed his brow for a moment, put off slightly by the way she had said it but just shrugged his shoulders. He offered to help; if she didn't take it then it wasn't his problem. He figured after a night sleeping in the cold she would probably take him up on the offer. He was curious about her venomous reaction though, he didn't see anything wrong with sleeping next to someone if it was to just share heat.

"_**Oh Kit, you have so much to learn" **_That was followed by a great deal of snickering which only served to confuse Naruto more. He sighed; all these girls around him seemed to only make his life more complicated. He pulled a rabbit he had saved from yesterday out of his pack and put it in the pot of water to cook. After that he started making his way over to the river, shedding his clothes as he went. Tayuya had seen him start to cook, the rabbit made her mouth water a little but she had snapped out of it when she saw the boy begin to undress.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He didn't even slow down to answer, simply calling back over his shoulder.

"Washing, otherwise I have to wake up to the smell of sweat." He stopped, now down to his boxers which thankfully he seemed to be keeping on. "If you don't mind I'd appreciate you doing the same." Tayuya looked at him curiously, considering the words until they sunk in.

"Hey are you saying I fucking stink?!" She heard him laugh softly, out of amusement instead of from his supposed insult.

"No more than anybody else, my nose is sensitive and I'm only just starting to get used to it." Tayuya barely heard the reply as she was already storming over to him, ready to beat an apology out of him, however he turned around quickly shocking her, already beating her to it.

"Sorry though, it probably came out the wrong way." Tayuya's anger died down a little, but not by much, it was at least nice that he had acknowledged he was in the wrong. Now that her mind wasn't quite so fuzzy with rage she caught onto something else he had said.

"What do you mean 'my nose is sensitive and I'm only just starting to get used to it'?" he smirked at her, but not in a condescending manner, just out of amusement. He pointed to his eyes slowly.

"My eyes didn't use to be like this, they only recently changed. It lets me see in the dark better and sometimes I think I can see farther away but I might be imagining it." Tayuya had noticed on their walk that he seemed to have an uncanny knack of seeing where he was going, despite it being so dark. She still didn't see what that had to do with his eyes but she managed to be patient, crossing her arms and waiting for him to continue.

"My other sense got heightened as well, smell especially. Because it only happened recently I'm still not used to everything smelling so much stronger so I have to wash twice or sometimes three times a day. So like I said; if it's okay then I'd appreciate if you did to." Tayuya was a little put off by the polite and kind way he had asked it, there was no demand or forcefulness, just a request. She wasn't used to this kind of treatment at all and it was beginning to unnerve her. She grumbled something under her breath which Naruto heard but didn't make any comment on.

"It can't be that bad." He grinned again but this time because he was remembering some funny incidents that had arisen the first time he had awoken to the strengthened smell of his own body.

"It can get pretty bad." He seemed to think that was a good enough answer and turned, if he put off his washing any longer then he wouldn't get out with enough time to finish cooking the rabbit. He walked the small distance to the stream and jumped in. The cold water was refreshingly brisk but he swam about a bit to stop himself from catching a cold. Seeing him wash Tayuya grumbled again however she admitted to herself that that water did look god and she probably could do with a wash anyway.

As she walked over, pulling off her top, she kept telling herself that this was for her, that she wasn't doing this because Naruto had asked her. She jumped in a little further up stream form him and nearly let out another stream of obscenities when she felt just how cold the water was. After a while though her body got used to it and she swam around a little, making sure to go under every so often to clean her hair.

She was surprised by how clean and clear the water was this far into a forest, she expected it to be muddy and full of leaves but she could actually see the bottom. She was startled when she heard Naruto get out of the river and walk over to where the food was cooking. He pulled a towel out of his pack and was about to start wiping himself down when he thought better of it. When Tayuya also got out and joined him he offered it to her.

"What are you doing?" He shrugged but kept the towel in his outstretched hand.

"I don't mind drip drying, plus if you go to sleep with wet hair you might catch a cold." She was startled by the show of concern for her wellbeing but managed to hide it from her face. Instead she begrudgingly took the towel, offering a half-mumbled thanks before dropping down next to him. The fire had died down a bit so Naruto added some wood; the extra warmth was comforting to the two seven-year olds.

They ate in silence and after they were both fed and dry Naruto offered an unreturned good night before rolling over in his blanket and closing his eyes. After a few minutes Tayuya could tell from his steady breathing that he was asleep and tried to do the same. Unfortunately Tayuya wasn't used to the cold air with only a blanket for warmth, she lacked Naruto's upbringing where even a cardboard box was shelter against the cold nights.

As much as she tossed and turned she just couldn't get to sleep, it didn't help that after a few minutes sunlight began to stream through the trees. She looked over to where Naruto was peacefully sleeping away, completely unaware of her annoyance and suddenly his offer flashed through her mind. Once again she was overcome with indignation, she would not resort to that; being reliant on somebody just to get her through the night. However as the minutes trickled by and she got no closer to sleep her resolve began to waver.

He did look warm and right now she would practically give anything to get some sleep. She had tried not to show it before but she was absolutely exhausted, having spent both the day and night awake with only a brief hour long sleep in the hotel room. Even that didn't help her, as much as she lay there with her eyes closed, sleep just wouldn't take hold. Eventually she had to get up with no small amount of cursing and walked slowly over to where Naruto was sleeping.

She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth before lifting up one side of his blanket. Naruto furrowed his brow at the sudden loss of heat but his features settled into a soft smile when he felt a new source enter his temporary bed. Subconsciously his hand reached out and wrapped around the new source of warmth, pulling it closer. He may have been more used to sleeping in the cold but that is just what it was, cold, and any warmth was welcomed.

Tayuya let out a gasp when she felt Naruto's arm wrap around her, she was ready to turn around and slam him in the face but when he muttered something incoherent she realised he was still asleep and her shoulders sagged. She would never admit it but with his arm wrapped around her stomach she felt weird, protected and safe almost. She knew it was stupid, if they ever really got into any trouble then there wouldn't be much he could do to help them but that was the thought she was left with as sleep finally got to her.

* * *

Naruto had woken up in a lot of different situations before; soaking wet in the tattered remains of a cardboard box, hanging upside down tied to a tree, half dead in the middle of a busy street, even being slowly buried in a large hole. However of all of them, and for those in the near future, he would remember waking up next to Tayuya, with the gentle scents of apple and cinnamon in his nose, the strangest.

If he had anything to compare it to, it would be the time a dog had wandered into the alley he had been sleeping in and nestled down next to him, he always remembered that night with fondness. The dog had obviously been a stray and he had taken comfort in being with something just as outcast as him. Waking up with the body heat of another living creature was a rare occurrence for Naruto and on that morning, just like now, he savoured every second of it.

It actually took him a few moments to realise he had his arm wrapped around the sleeping girl and a part of him didn't want to let go. It was a comfortable position and if the gentle, steady breaths of Tayuya were anything to go on then she didn't mind either. However after some not-so-gentle insistence from Kyuubi he regretfully slid away from her. He got dressed after another dip in the river and a small breakfast.

He had learnt his lesson from their first day of training, he had eaten a rather large breakfast, being the bottomless stomach that he was, and had been sick after about an hour of the intense work out. After that he had limited himself to a much small portion of food which had the benefit of leaving him much hungrier for lunch. That also worked out for the better as it gave him more energy for the chakra exercises which wouldn't lead to him evacuating his stomach. He made a mental note that he would have to catch more food now that he had someone else to feed before going about his morning exercises with the usual vigour.

* * *

It was thirty seconds after Tayuya woke up that she realised that there was something wrong; she couldn't quite place it at first as she lay under the blankets. It was dark out, but that wasn't all that unusual, she was in the middle of a forest, again weird but not all that unusual. It just wouldn't click so she tried to roll back over and go back to sleep, of course that was when it struck her. She was smiling.

That wasn't right, she never smiled; she quickly shot up out of the bed and forced her face back into her usual semi-scowl. Yesterday's events flooded back into her sleep-addled mind and she hurriedly looked around her, expecting Naruto's sleeping form to be next to her. With an embarrassed blush she noticed that he wasn't there, that meant that he had woken up and seen her asleep next to him. With scowl she wondered why he had left her all alone, seemingly in the middle of the night however she brought the blanket closer to her when she wondered if he really had just left her.

With a relieved sigh she noticed that the fire was going and there was some food in the pot, obviously for her. Naruto's pack was also still there, although none of this answered her question as to where he had actually gone. As if the universe had heard her thoughts she heard a grunt from somewhere away from the clearing. She stood up and was about to follow the sound when she actually took notice of her state of undress.

She was about to put her shirt back on but when she looked at it she grimaced. The once white shirt was caked with dirt and mud, staining it forever a disgusting brown, she hadn't realised just how dire it had gotten because she hadn't taken it off for so long. She realised with a wince that Naruto's supposedly heightened nose must have had trouble just being around her wearing this thing. She sighed and threw it back down onto the floor, he had been nice enough to do all this for her, the least she could do was try and not make him throw up.

She noticed one of Naruto's remarkably cleaner shirts sticking out from the top of his pack and she threw it on, she didn't think he would mind. She didn't even have to wear pants with it on, it acted like a skirt, not that she was the type to wear skirts. Naruto was hardly a tall kid, although that had been improving recently with his better diet, but she was even shorter than he was and the shirt was already too big for him.

Clothed, she finally followed the sound to its source; it was a clearing not unlike the one they had slept in but smaller and without the stream. The grunting was coming from Naruto who seemed to be in the middle of what looked like exercises. Although this wouldn't have usually interested Tayuya, it was the fact that he was currently doing a handstand on three fingers from each hand, slowly pressing his body closer to the floor before bringing it back up with a grunt.

She watched amazed as he continued this, not even noticing the fact that his strained grunts were actually numbers. She only took note of this when on his last one he pushed off a bit more vigorously, triumphantly calling out 'one hundred and fifty' with a satisfied smile. Immediately Tayuya was disbelieving, there was no way the scrawny kid had managed to do one hundred and fifty handstand press ups. She figured he had seen her watching and was just boasting.

However after that he just seemed to move onto his next exercise, making no motion that he had even seen her. This time she got to watch through the entire thing as he miraculously performed two hundred sit-ups whilst dangling from a tree. When he dropped down he had that same satisfied grin, but it didn't look cocky, just happy. He again made no move to show that he had seen her but he called out into the clearing, seemingly at random.

"I know you're there Tayuya, you can come out" Tayuya just did a double-take but walked out into the clearing anyway where a sweaty and tired-looking Naruto finally turned around to face her.

"How did you know I was there?" He smiled sheepishly.

"I could smell you." Her brow furrowed for a moment.

"But how did you know it was me?" His smile only widened.

"It's easy to tell apart different scents after a while, I knew it was you because I already smelled you, you smell of cinnamon and apples." He looked at her for a moment, wearing his t-shirt that acted like a dress. "Although you did throw me off for a while by wearing my shirt, I didn't catch you until I started the sit-ups, and that was only because I moved." Tayuya tried not to look awed but it was incredible, at least she didn't doubt his heightened senses anymore.

With a small cringe she realised she hadn't taken a bath this morning however he seemed to sense her concerns and smiled.

"Don't worry about it; all I can smell right now is my own sweat." Tayuya just nodded, she didn't need a super sense of smell to practically feel the aroma coming from Naruto.

"What are you doing out here?" Naruto frowned; he would have thought it was obvious.

"Training." He said it as if Tayuya should have just known; it was the first time he had even shown a hint of condescension. Tayuya's annoyance was overcome by her curiosity.

"For what?" Naruto's smile returned, he was onto a topic he enjoyed now.

"I'm a shinobi in training, I have to be as physically fit as I can." Tayuya looked at him curiously, she had heard of the ninja, you would be hard pressed to find somebody in the elemental nations that hadn't. However she wouldn't have thought that they started at such a young age.

"Why would you want to be a ninja?" Naruto looked at her shocked; this new range of emotions he was giving off was becoming a bit much for Tayuya.

"Why wouldn't I? It's my dream to become a powerful shinobi and protect the people I care about." Once again Tayuya was intrigued.

"What people? I thought you said you had to leave your home. Who's worth protecting if you can't stay there anymore?" Naruto's smile vanished immediately, replaced by a saddened look that once again allowed his mask to slip, however briefly.

"Um-" Tayuya knew she had hit that same sore spot as before and immediately tried to change the subject. She may not have liked people but she wasn't a sadist, she didn't enjoy watching people suffering, which Naruto obviously was. There was also just something about him, something disarming that made her not want to see him hurt, in the same way that she knew he didn't want to see anybody else hurt.

"Why don't you tell me about being a ninja?" Thankful for the distraction Naruto slipped his mask back into place and a broad beaming smile lit up his face.

"Well the most important thing to a shinobi is their chakra..." Tayuya looked at him confusedly.

"What's chakra?" Naruto's grin only grew; in his mind he was already thinking _'Just call me Uzumaki-sensei'._


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto was surprised at just how interested Tayuya seemed when he spoke about being a ninja. She took it in with more focus and genuine curiosity than he would have thought possible, at least for the short time he had known her. When she asked a question he didn't know he would just ask Kyuubi who would quickly tell him before he passed the information along. She didn't even seem to mind when he took these pauses to talk with his tenant, she simply thought he was thinking about the answer.

To say it surprised him that this impatient, angry, and generally cold person shared an interest with him would be an understatement. However he was of course happy that they finally had something to talk about that involved minimal swearing on her part. Unfortunately for him her main area of interest when he began talking about the aspects of being a ninja was genjutsu. While Kyuubi had slowly been getting him to appreciate the style, he still didn't know nearly enough to satisfy her questions.

Instead of asking Kyuubi every time he sometimes simply told her that he didn't know enough about it. She seemed disappointed. It was another strange reaction he wouldn't have expected, even if she did cover it well. Even so, he could see that all her unanswered questions left her wanting for more. He offered to let her train with him and even though she looked hesitant, especially after seeing what he could do, she tentatively agreed. He had quickly assured her that she wouldn't start off at his level after Kyuubi informed him why she seemed unsure.

Since it was still morning Naruto would usually have kept on with his physical training but Kyuubi seemed to let him off for once, instead opting to travel a bit more. They packed up and set off at a decent pace, even if it wasn't quite as fast as Naruto or his passenger would have liked. While Naruto's night vision was now excellent, Tayuya was only human and couldn't keep the pace he set with the same confidence. If she had doubted his enhanced vision before she disregarded that notion after seeing just how quickly he could move.

Eventually after a decent two hours of moving they pulled into another clearing. Tayuya caught her breath, still unused to just how far and fast a Shinobi could move, while Naruto set up the camp. After he was done he looked at the sprawled out form of Tayuya on the ground with a smirk. He noticed that she was still wearing his black t-shirt from this morning, although she had put her old black pants back on. That only left him with the single shirt, increasing his need to find a village or town and re-supply.

He left the clearing for a bath and when she felt strong enough to stand Tayuya joined him, after last night she had lost her reservations. She knew there was something she was supposed to know about boys and girls bathing together but nobody had ever really told her the specifics. Either way she had felt sweaty after the fast-paced trek of that night and she needed the soak just as much as Naruto did.

After they were finished and Naruto had cooked them both a quick lunch, although both were ravenous, he sat down to begin his chakra exercises. For a few minutes Tayuya watched with curiosity until frustration set in with Naruto being so inactive. She walked over to him, watching the smouldering leaf in his hand the entire time. Before tonight she would have been amazed that the small burning hole in the centre wasn't moving outwards but after her lecture on chakra she understood that many more things than she could have imagined were now possible.

Naruto opened his eyes when he heard and smelt her draw closer, his chuckled sheepishly when he realised what he had done. He stood up, meeting Tayuya's irritated gaze with his own semi-apologetic grin. After that and some less-than-gentle 'encouragement' from Tayuya he began to teach and show her how to mould and form her chakra. He was once again surprised by how quickly she took to the supposedly alien concept, although after displaying her aptitude for learning he shouldn't have been shocked.

That was all he could do on the first day but he knew that Tayuya showed prodigious skill for somebody completely new to being a ninja. He himself had spent three days just getting basic chakra moulding down and she seemed competent enough after the first day. He smiled a wide grin when they were done, with Kyuubi guiding him and him guiding her they would develop greatly. Already in his mindscape Kyuubi was adjusted her daily plan for Naruto to incorporate the girl.

She knew the value of having somebody just as powerful, if maybe slightly less so, to back you up. She didn't want anything to happen to her container so this was like an extra insurance to the ancient being. Not to mention the fact that it injected a bit of amusement into her day to watch the two kids interact. The fact that Tayuya couldn't get under Naruto's skin no matter how hard she tried was impressive to watch, even if the girl didn't realise there was a spectator to their verbal spars.

Tayuya didn't realise how exhausting all the work had been until it was over, the wave of fatigue hit her like a rock and she almost fell asleep on the spot. It was only the cold and the fact that she didn't want to appear undignified that kept her wake. She also didn't want to be the first to fall asleep, it showed weakness which she wouldn't do in front of her companion. It didn't really matter to her that he didn't see it that way but the rational part of her mind wasn't at one hundred percent due to exhaustion.

Naruto still had his late-night lesson with Kyuubi to go; it felt unfair as Tayuya had no such advantage but he didn't want to forgo his own learning. He also saw how stubborn she was being about sleep, despite what some people believed about his perception. It was easy to see that she was fighting a losing battle with the sandman and while she wouldn't easily admit it she would probably need to sleep near him for the warmth.

He sighed and walked over to where she was wearily sitting and pulled out the blankets. He passed one to her as he had the previous night; he knew that she wasn't going to accept his offer of sleeping together again if he asked anyway. He lay down to sleep, or at least that was how it appeared and waited. Sure enough after a while Tayuya crept over to him without him giving away any sign that he noticed, or was even awake, and slipped under the sheet with him, nestling closer to his body for its warmth.

Because of last night he knew it wasn't a problem so he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her slightly closer, masking it with incoherent muttering. He felt her freeze for a moment, her body becoming rigid, before she relaxed into the position. When he finally felt her breathing steady and heard her heartbeat slow he sighed with a smile before losing himself to his subconscious. Kyuubi was already waiting for him, a sly grin on the vixen's features, but she alluded to nothing as she started the lesson.

* * *

This was essentially the way the rest of that week went. Naruto's training continued as normal, as did his daily routine. He would awaken, wash, eat, train, walk for a few hours, eat, train, eat and then pretend to sleep while he had his lesson. Although this time he had a companion, Tayuya would join him in training as it was halved between him practising and learning whilst the rest of the time he would teach her before leaving her to her own devices. This was true for both the physical and chakra exercises, although he had to exclude her from the lessons.

Every night was also the same story; Tayuya would accept the blanket before retiring some distance away in the clearing. She would then fight a losing battle against the elements and her own mind before creeping over to Naruto and sliding under the blankets with him. He was still wondering why she bothered hiding it by the end of the week, she must know that he knew, after all he woke up before her every day.

He chuckled in his thoughts; if he could safely say that he had learnt anything over the past week, and he had learnt a lot, it was that Tayuya was not a morning person. He had made the mistake of knocking her slightly when he woke up one morning and had received a swift punch in the gut for his troubles. That was another thing he was noticing; while Tayuya did not have as harsh a physical regiment as he did, it was still having a noticeable effect on her speed and strength.

When he had met her she had been a rather scrawny girl, with his meals and the training they did she was quickly filling out into more healthy proportions for somebody her age. He of course didn't notice that the same was true for himself. Living off of instant ramen for the past few years, and scraps before that, hadn't left him the healthiest of specimens. Now that he was eating right, with plenty of protein from the animals he caught, he too was gaining a healthier physique; he might have even noticed that he had grown a bit.

Although of all the good changes that had come about over the week there were some things that wouldn't change. Naruto was upset and frustrated that in all that time Tayuya hadn't lowered her guard emotionally even once. He tried his best to be there, never prying to hard but always reminding her that he was in fact there. She kept trying to distance him, almost as if she just expected him to leave her at any moment, something he definitely had no intention of doing.

He had mused on it a lot, figuring he would need to make some kind of gesture to prove that he wasn't going to leave her. It was her unwillingness to change this, and a few other aspects of her attitude, that made it all the more surprising when the first cracks did start to show. He would remember the start of that exactly one week after the two had met.

"Hey Shithead." He grimaced inwardly, while on some level he had ruefully accepted the nickname he would still prefer she used his real one like he showed the courtesy of doing for her. However after a while he had managed to stop reacting to the name which caused her to use it less often when it had less of an effect.

"Yes Tayuya?" He was curious to what she wanted, they had just finished their dinner and were about to go to sleep, or at least she was. He immediately noticed how uncomfortable the girl seemed and had tried to be careful in the tone of his reply. She seemed to take a few moments; whatever she wanted to say was obviously difficult.

"Um, about sleeping..." he started to see where this was going but acted ignorant.

"What is it? Do you want both the blankets tonight? I can go without them if you want." She scowled for a moment; it was still too strange for her to have somebody this selfless around. She never knew quite how to respond when he made a gesture like this. In the middle of the week he had only managed a measly catch for their lunch and despite his obvious hunger he offered her the much larger share. Of course she had acted indignant that he would think she needed more, like she was weak but deep, deep down she was touched.

"Well no, it's not, well, you know in the mornings..." his semi-serious expression was starting to put her off asking what she had come over to ask but she was a stubborn person. "Y-you don't mind me you know..." Damn! Where had the damn stutter come from? She hadn't stuttered shyly like that in years. Naruto on the other hand allowed a warm smile to grace his features, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

"Of course not, I offered it in the first place remember." She narrowed her eyes, of course she remembered; didn't he see how uncomfortable this made her? As if he was reading her mind Naruto gave her a penetrating look while maintaining the smile. "I didn't press it, it was your choice and I don't like pressuring people." Tayuya was shaken by the answer; he was actually respecting her by not saying anything? The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She scowled again at how he was yet again getting into her head and her tone regained some of its stubborn edge.

"Yeah well I'm just letting you know I don't care anymore, it's fucking cold out here and if I need you as a pillow then I'm damn well going to use you like one!" She glared defiantly at him, daring him to respond but he didn't. She was a little irked when his smile didn't waver but when he shrugged she mentally took that as a victory and stalked away smirking towards the river. Naruto watched her leave with his own smirk, in the head he was visualising a massive damn of tremendous proportions; before his eyes a single tiny crack appeared and the tiniest trickle of water came gushing out.

'_Well it's a start.'_

* * *

It was late on in their second week together that the pair finally came across another village. This time Naruto kept to the forest for much longer before emerging out onto the road right before the town itself. It was somewhere between three and four in the morning so the single guard was hardly alert. He let the two young children through the gate with barely more than a glance. From their state of dress he had assumed they were either orphans or refugees; he didn't realise how right he was.

It wasn't really all that late for Tayuya or Naruto, being only about two-thirds of the way through their waking day, but the stores were all closed this early, or late depending on one's viewpoint. Instead they opted to settle down in a quiet alley behind a restaurant and get some sleep before morning. The gentle scents of food and the sounds of the sleeping village lulled the children into sleep. If anybody had come across the scene they may have found it cute to see two young orphans sleeping under a pair of blankets, huddled together for warmth.

When morning did come Naruto was the first awake as usual; it was actually rather disconcerting to wake up and not immediately spring into physical exercise. It was also strange to wake up to somewhat weak daylight; after so long in the dark relying on his night vision it took him a few minutes to adjust, the light hurting his sensitive eyes. He could only imagine that it would be worse for Tayuya, she had no night vision to rely on and would be going straight from pitch black to daylight, a prospect he be less than ecstatic about.

He stretched a bit to alleviate the worst of the aches that had accumulated from sleeping on the rough alley floor. He knew he would regret his next action later but he didn't like the idea of leaving Tayuya alone while he went about the town getting a sense of the land. She might have woken up and thought that he had abandoned her. After a moment or two of deliberation he decided against waking her himself. He told himself repeatedly that it was because he felt she deserved the extra few minutes of sleep, not that he was afraid of her reaction.

However when a few minutes turned into thirty he was forced to gently shake her shoulders until her eyes blearily opened. Suddenly they snapped apart and a sneer made its way onto her face but before she could slug him he leapt back and she got a look at their surroundings. The fact that they were surrounded by buildings surprised her until she remembered how they had arrived here. Even more groggily that usual, thanks to the near-blinding sunlight, she rose up and did a few stretches herself.

When they both agreed they were ready they packed up what little they had brought out of the bag last night and walked out of the alley. Before they got out completely Tayuya thumped him lightly on the shoulder. She had held back her full strength but Naruto still rubbed the spot gingerly, looking at her strangely.

"You know how I feel about you dodging me in the mornings Shithead." She didn't offer any more of an explanation as they emerged onto the quiet street. Naruto was slightly confused; the town was small but definitely not that small. This time in the morning there should have been people bustling to and fro on their daily business. Men going off to work in the surrounding mines or shops, women out getting the supplies they needed for the day or week, even kids running about being a general nuisance.

He shrugged it off as one of those oddities but his brow unconsciously furrowed a little. One look from Tayuya told him that she had noticed the same thing, both of them having spent enough time on the streets to understand how places like this worked. Naruto had to put it to the back of his mind as he entered the first shop on their path, it was a general store, selling all the necessities for travellers like themselves, a perfect place to pick up the few things they were missing.

Inside the shop they were once again reminded just how quiet this place was, there wasn't a soul in the shop except for the slightly nervous looking shopkeeper. He idly stood behind the counter; obviously unnerved by the two children and looking like any moment he might make a break for it. The pair didn't say anything but internally they were just as uncomfortable as the clerk looked. Of course Tayuya was better at hiding this behind her ever-present scowl but Naruto managed to keep his emotions in long enough for them to get out and allowed himself to breathe a small sigh.

They hurried across the street, not wanting to spend more time than they had to in this disconcerting area, at least during the day when they couldn't help but feel vulnerable. Naruto didn't know if he was becoming paranoid but he started to understand why Kyuubi had chosen for him to travel at night.

"_**You're welcome Kit. Although I share your concerns, I would recommend you leave this place quickly." **_Naruto quickly nodded his head in the affirmative, knowing that the Kyuubi would understand the gesture. As time had drawn on from his initial transformation Kyuubi had managed to access more and more of his senses through their internal link. At first it was strange, knowing that everything he experienced wasn't his alone, but as he got used to it the sensation barely even registered anymore.

The two training ninja's quickly entered the store, only just noticing that it was a clothes shop. Naruto was grateful; between the two of them they had two shirts and no matter how much you washed something in cold water there was a limit to what you were covering up. He smiled for the first time since noticing the strange atmosphere and turned to his companion. She was already gone, wandering up and down the aisles of the small shop, idly looking at clothes and occasionally pulling items off of the racks only to put them back on after a frown.

Naruto also frowned as he patted him pocket; Gama-chan was a little lighter after they had bought all the necessities in the other store. It would clear him out to buy clothes for both himself and Tayuya. At least he assumed that from the way she was dressed before and the smell of the streets that clung to her back then that she wasn't exactly rolling in Ryou. Even so, he smiled as he watched the girl walk around the store; it was obviously an experience she was unused to.

He snapped out of his idle thoughts after he heard a cough from the vendor. It was obviously aimed in his direction even though the man looked away from him when Naruto turned to look. Again he held that same uncomfortable aura that had surrounded the last shop keeper. Naruto frowned again but acting on the man's unvoiced request he started looking through the various aisles of clothing to see what was in his price range.

He was more than surprised when he started looking at the price tags; everything was a lot cheaper here than in Konoha. In the stores back home, at least the ones he was grudgingly allowed into, the prices were at least three times this amount. He grinned broadly; maybe he wouldn't be cleaned out after this after all. Of course that smile immediately dropped off his face when he saw Tayuya rounding the corner of the aisle he was standing in with a bundle of clothes in her arms.

There was everything there from shirts to pants to hats, gloves, shorts, a few pairs of shoes and a jacket. There were also a few items hidden purposefully further into the bundle that Naruto couldn't see and Tayuya hoped to keep it that way. She had grown used to wearing guys boxers in the last few weeks because there was little else for her to wear but for some reason she wasn't alright with Naruto seeing them. His eyes bulged at the ungainly pile of clothing, marvelling at how the girl had picked it all out so quickly.

"So shithead, are you just gonna stand there gawking like a pussy or are you going to pick out some clothes?" Her words snapped him out of the half-daze he had fallen into, entranced by all the colours in the pile. He shook his head and looked around for a moment, eyes immediately rested on something that brought a wide grin to his face. Just as he was reaching for the bright orange jumpsuit a hand caught his wrist faster than he would have believed if he hadn't seen it for himself.

"You touch that fucking piece of bastardized fabric some fucktard had the balls to call clothes, and I'll rip off your arm and use it to paint it a better colour." Naruto visibly paled from the shocking statement, looking at the girl with eyes the size of dinner plates. When she finally released the vice-like grip on his wrist he returned it to his side, rubbing it slightly to get the circulation going again; Tayuya could get shockingly strong when properly angry.

"What's wrong with it?" Her eyes tried to bore a hole directly into his forehead, when that didn't work she sighed. It was more out of anger and frustration that any kind of disappointment, although that was mixed in there as well.

"You wanna be a fucking shinobi right?" She tried not to shout but couldn't help her voice from raising a few decibels. When he nodded, a bit too enthusiastically for her liking, she continued. "Then you can't go around wearing a colour that practically shouts 'I'm over here, come fucking stab me!'" Naruto furrowed his brow, taking another look at the jumpsuit on the rack before glancing back to Tayuya. He didn't see what was wrong with it, the colour orange was great, but he had a hard time trying to see past Tayuya's harsh logic. Orange was terrible for camouflage in any environment.

"Yeah, you're right Tayuya" She was surprised that the kid had come around so easily, expecting him to put up more of a fight. She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering what the ulterior motive was but when he began to look around the shelves again she loosened up.

"Damn right I'm fucking right." It was more of a whisper to herself than anything else but with his superior hearing Naruto caught it anyway and it brought a small smile to his face. He went around the store picking up a few items of clothing, mostly black or dark navy shirts but he added in one orange one, thinking that it wouldn't be too bad if he wore a jacket. He had picket out the perfect one, a dark green coat that was warm and comfortable while coming down past his mid-thigh.

He also picked up a few pairs of black pants, they were nothing special but they looked incredibly comfortable. All the while he had Kyuubi in his head mentally nodding her head at his various choices, her only real concern was whether or not they would hamper his movements. He topped off the pile with a new pair of black sandals and a couple of boxer shorts, not caring if Tayuya saw them in the same way she did.

When he was finally done the two kids dumped their piles of clothing down on the counter as the clerk very quickly sorted through them. When the price flashed up Naruto's eyes widened once again; 1,600 ryou seemed a little steep. Then again when he looked at the rather large pile of clothing he realised that there was a bit more there than he thought originally. He smiled sheepishly with one hand rubbing the back of his head before looking into his wallet with no small amount of uncertainty.

"Uhh Tayuya, I don't this I can afford _all _of this." Tayuya just narrowed her eyes and looked at her pile of clothes defiantly.

"Well then put some of your clothes back." Naruto's eyebrows shot up at her suggestion.

"What? Why do _I_ have to go back? I'm paying." Tayuya only placed her arms across her chest, smirking evilly.

"Nagato said you had to protect me." Naruto growled lightly under his breath, she would always pull that card if she saw an argument veering from her favour. He knew she didn't actually mean what she said, she wasn't exactly the type who wanted to be looked after and it was more for the pleasure of seeing Naruto squirm a little.

"Yeah well 'protect' didn't mean 'cater to' the last time I checked." Naruto tried to put defiance into his words but he couldn't help rubbing the petal mark on his wrist.

"How the fuck would you know shithead? When was the last time you read the fucking dictionary?" Naruto was about to retort again, not willing to lose the argument when the store clerk cut in for him.

"That's absolutely fine. Everything's half price today." He said it very quickly, the desperation painfully obvious in his voice. It was almost like a silent request for the two of them to just pay and get out of his store. Naruto was about to ask him about it when Tayuya sent him a warning glare, she knew he was the type to question these things; she on the other hand never looked a gift horse in the mouth. Or at least she wouldn't after making sure it wasn't going to try and kill her at least.

The pair walked out of the store with mixed feelings after packing all of their recent purchases into their packs. Naruto was still curious about the strange behaviour of the few people in this town while at the same time he was happy that Gama-chan hadn't been completely emptied. Tayuya was happy about getting the new clothes, even if she wouldn't show it. It had been a long, long time since she had new clothes, barring the shirt and pants she had borrowed from Naruto.

Their shopping done and seeing no other reason to stay in the town, despite Naruto's curiosity, the two began their way to the exit of the town in silence that matched the rest of the eerily quiet village. They were completely ignorant to the two men that watched their progress from the darkness of the alley way. They watched the two kids with keen interest, scrutinizing them for who they were and just what they were doing.

The first man was a large, burly man with muscles rippling over his body, barely constrained by his thin vest and too short pants. The other man by contrast was a twig, scrawnier than most girls half his age, however he held a posture that told of speed and cunning to the trained eye. The two were practically binary opposites of one another; the larger man had long unruly hair that travelled past his shoulders whereas the smaller man's hair was shaved to the scalp.

"So, these are the kids that Konan took an interest in?" It was the larger man who asked the question and looked to his smaller companion for the reply. Where the burlier man was impatient and only thought one step ahead of himself, the thin man was much more collected, always planning and conniving to get his ends.

"It would appear so. They match the description at least." He talked slowly, as if measuring out each word for maximum impact. The bigger man grinned broadly, excited by the prospects of what was to come; there were a few things he relished and kidnapping was among them. The intoxicating feeling of having complete and total control over your hostage was indescribable. The other man was far more displeased; kidnappings were too much trouble for too little reward, barely worth his time. Unfortunately when their boss asked for something it took an idiotic or idiotically brave man to say no.

"I wonder what she saw in them." The thin man looked contemplative as he carefully watched the children begin their journey out of the village.

"Who the fuck cares? Let's just grab them." His partner shot him a withering look, placing a hand on his bulging shoulder.

"Patience in all things Kagero, we must be discrete about this. Drawing attention where the information may get back to our real target would be troublesome to say the least." Kagero frowned; Mishoto was always like this, ruining his fun. He sighed but nodded meekly; he knew better than to anger his companion, having learnt that the hard way when they had first been introduced.

"Do not worry, Kagero, you will get to have your fun in time, for now we must observe and only observe. These children may serve to surprise us yet." Mishoto knew never to underestimate any opponent, no matter how young or small. Having met many of the young shinobi from the various hidden villages was enough to cement that belief. While these children hardly looked like ninja, it never hurt to be cautious.


	7. Chapter 7

Roughly an hour away from the village Naruto and Tayuya were just beginning to search for a clearing so they could get some sleep before they had to get up at night again. Tayuya was slightly annoyed by this; she didn't have the natural adjustment to being nocturnal that Naruto did. The entire time from the moment they left the village she kept asking why they couldn't just walk during the day and stick to the trees. Kyuubi had prepared him for the question and his answer was simple.

"There are no trees in Wind Country." This wasn't technically true, there were palm trees and a few scarce forests around the border. However for the most part Wind Country was mainly desert or salt flats. There was also the problem that walking in a desert during the day was near suicide to two children, it would be much safer to walk at night when it was cooler. Of course the cold posed an equal problem but Kyuubi assured him that she would have a solution by the time they got to the border.

It was drawing closer all the time and Naruto was sending out vibes of pure excitement the closer they got. Kyuubi's estimate was about three more days followed by another week before they reached Suna itself. Tayuya was less happy, although one could generally say she was always less happy than Naruto. One thing she was pleased about were their new clothes, the last time she had actually received new clothing was the year before. Otherwise she had to live out of the rags Naruto had found her in.

She wanted to try them on but Naruto assured her that they would get the chance in the morning; after all there was no point when they were just going to sleep soon anyway. She was disgruntled by this; it always irked her whenever Naruto acted like he actually had a brain. Of course after a few seconds the other him would slip through and everything would go back to normal. However it was becoming increasingly common for Naruto's mask to slip, for some reason he found especially hard to maintain it around Tayuya.

They finally found a decent spot, however as soon as Tayuya reached into her pack to take things out Naruto grabbed her wrist and threw the both of them to the ground. Tayuya was about to round on him and ask what the hell he was doing when a dull thud impacted to her left. Shakily she looked up to see a kunai embedded in a tree, obviously having passed through the spot where she had been standing only moments before.

She looked across at Naruto in awe, he had just saved her life; however he was already standing and looking furtively into the trees. The reason why became obvious when a slow, patronising clap could be heard. Soon after a very thin man with a shaved head emerged from the tree line, exactly in the spot Naruto had been staring into. The man smiled and looked at them, soon joined by his muscled companion, looking all the more intimidating with a massive sword slung over his shoulder.

"Those are some reflexes kid, I'm impressed." Surprisingly Naruto simply snarled at the two men, his eyes flickering between his natural blue and their blood red counterparts uncontrollably. "However reflexes aren't going to save your life, just come with us quietly and we won't have to hurt you..." The man grinned evilly, his hands twitching slightly as he let his words sink in "...too much." Naruto stood his ground and the man sighed in an exaggerated manner.

"Hm, you know I wonder if that has ever worked." He shrugged nonchalantly "Ah well, what would the fun in that be I guess." His wicked smile returned and he quickly motioned with his hand. Kagero stated forward, taking large deliberate steps that made him seem heavier than he already was. Naruto faltered slightly, he was brave but the man's imposing presence was enough to unnerve him, however he didn't move for a second; instead his feet were rooted to the spot. His eyes managed to hold onto their defiant gleam even when the man was only a few feet away.

He raised his hands and made a move to block Kagero from Tayuya but in an impressive display of speed he rushed forward and slammed Naruto harshly with the flat of the sword. Naruto grunted as his whole body was struck with the cold metal and send tumbling across the clearing to impact solidly with a tree. Kagero grinned, he didn't care that it was a kid he hit, all he felt was the satisfying sound of his blade striking flesh.

He watched Naruto painfully slide out of the slight crater his body had made in the bark before turning to a rightfully scared Tayuya, who hadn't moved from her spot on the ground. Seeing Naruto struck managed to pull her out of her frightened paralysis but t was too late as the brute of a man roughly lifted her up with his brawny hands. He tucked her under his arm like a sack of vegetables, making sure to pin her arms to her side, and walked back over to his companion.

"That was kind of boring Mishoto. I was hoping the kid might put up some sort of fight." The smaller man shrugged languidly, a disinterested look settling over his features.

"I'm surprised you expected anything Kagero, he was just a brat after all." Even as he said this he saw Naruto groggily rise from his position at the edge of the clearing. "Although I may have spoken too soon." They both turned to look just as Naruto got to his feet and glared at the two men, his eyes now firmly red. When he didn't actually make a motion to move Kagero looked across expectantly at his partner.

"No Kagero, you have the girl, head over to the meeting point and I'll catch up. I think that it's best I beat a little sense into our young friend over there." The brutish man looked a little disappointed but nodded all the same, turning and walking out of the clearing with a limp Tayuya under his arm. Mishoto turned back around to return the defiant glare Naruto was sending him before cockily strutting over to him.

"You got guts kid but all that means is there'll be more to spread around this clearing when I'm done with you." Immediately a kunai was in both of his hands, apparently dropping straight out of his sleeves. Naruto didn't react, instead slipping into the basic taijutsu stance that he had been taught at the academy and Kyuubi had fixed. He should have known the teachers would purposefully try and sabotage his training but that didn't matter now. Mishoto simply broke out into a grin that once again spoke of his arrogance.

"I had a feeling you might prove to be trouble and wasn't I right? You must be a shinobi trainee and from where we are I'd say you were from the hidden leaf village." Naruto didn't move again, implementing the psychological warfare that Kyuubi had taught him, namely never rising to an opponent's taunts. If anything ignoring them affected the taunter more than it would himself. Mishoto saw that his words weren't having an effect and shrugged, Naruto was caught off guard as the casual action quickly became deadly.

As he shrugged two more kunai dropped from his sleeves into his awaiting hands and in one fluid motion all four were sent flying in Naruto's direction. He reacted quickly, diving out of the way just in time for two of the deadly knives to pass straight over his head. Unfortunately the other two landed slightly closer to their mark. One embedded itself in his thigh as he turned to move and the other caught his shoulder.

The latter knife managed to draw a thin line of blood before catching his shirt and pinning Naruto to the tree behind him. That coupled with the knife stuck in his leg caused him to cry out, sending a few birds flying from their perches in the trees. A steady stream of blood was slowly soaking his pants leg below the wound and Naruto couldn't even reach down to stem the bleeding thanks to the kunai holding him against the wood.

Before he could reach over and pull it out Mishoto was in front of him. Three powerful blows to the stomach later and Naruto was slumped over. He would have dropped to the ground from the pain if it weren't for the fact he was pinned against the tree by both the kunai over his shoulder and Mishoto's fist which was still firmly planted in his stomach. Mishoto wasn't done yet and he drew back his fist only to bring it straight back into the same spot, eliciting a small spurt of blood from Naruto's mouth.

His world was swimming and thoughts wouldn't form coherently in his mind, the pain was too much and he already felt his grasp on consciousness slip. In his mind he was searching for something, anything that could help him. He needed to escape, he needed to help Tayuya; he couldn't let the other man hurt her. He would never forgive himself if somebody else was hurt just because they were travelling with him. That's when a memory slid through his fuzzy mind.

* * *

_He was in his mindscape, watching with a grin as Kyuubi emerged from the forest around them with a small rabbit held happily in her mouth. She walked over and sat down on her hind legs, plopping the caught animal down on the ground beneath them. Sometimes it startled her just how realistic this place was, if she didn't know the truth she may have in fact have believed this entire forest was real, except for the whole looping aspect._

"_**So Kit, is there anything specific you wanted to learn about today?" **__Naruto simply looked confused, Kyuubi had never asked him this before, always having a lesson planned out in advance._

"_What do you mean?" Kyuubi gave him a wolfish grin._

"_**Nothing, it simply appears that you have a question you desperately wish to ask. I would like to get it out of the way before you learn something important." **__Naruto nodded along as she spoke until he heard the last part._

"_Hey, who says my question isn't important?" Kyuubi just shrugged in an infuriating manner, calmly poking her nose at the rabbit for a while until Naruto started to talk again. She had been right, there was something that had been bugging him all day but he didn't want to ask through their mental connection._

"_Kyuubi, we talk about my chakra a lot, but what about you? Do you have chakra?" Kyuubi stopped what she was doing with the rabbit for a while, looking at the boy with a little bit of pride._

"_**That was surprisingly insightful Naruto. I wouldn't have expected you to grasp that this quickly." **__Naruto smiled at the praise before once again realised there was a veiled insult hidden in her words. He said nothing but his annoyed look made Kyuubi chuckle before continuing. __**"Mortal attempts to look intimidating truly are pitiful, although in your case I am willing to call it cute." **__Examining Naruto's unimpressed features she huffed, he really could be no fun sometimes. __**"But you are right; I do in fact have my own chakra. As a matter of fact I am actually a being created purely from chakra; it is what makes me so powerful." **__She waited patiently for the inane and pointless question that would surely come next, although she was pleasantly surprised._

"_So if you're inside of me, and you have chakra." He took a moment to think again. "Am I capable of using your chakra?" If Kyuubi wasn't as old and as wise as she was she may have hung her jaw in disbelief. That he could come to that realisation so quickly was astounding. Perhaps the red-haired girl was having a positive effect on him after all; and here was Kyuubi believing all he would get from her was her foul language._

"_**Quite astute Kit. Yes, in time you may be able to access my chakra, with my permission of course." **__Naruto looked positively ecstatic; he would have jumped about in joy if he didn't have more questions._

"_When, when can I start to use it?" He was so happy; while he knew he had large chakra reserves and that they would continued to grow to immense proportions he realised that the Kyuubi's must already be impossibly large. Kyuubi on the other hand looked markedly grimmer._

"_**Not for a while Kit." **__That stopped Naruto's celebrating in its tracks and he just stood there looking at her with a frown. Before he could inevitably question her she beat him to it. __**"My Chakra was never supposed to be contained within such a small vessel. In time our respective chakra's will merge, mostly thanks to the damnable seal your fourth placed on this cage. Until that time my chakra will pose a risk to your health if used."**_

"_When will that be?" Kyuubi took a thoughtful pose, performing a few calculations in her mind._

"_**Based on how hard you train I would say sometime in your late teens." **__Naruto's eyes opened wide and he looked at her disbelievingly._

"_That long? Isn't there anything we could do to make it go quicker?" Kyuubi had to suppress a laugh at how childishly he was behaving; it actually took her a moment to remind herself that he was in fact a child._

"_**I'm afraid not Kit, this is just something you will have to be patient about." **__His shoulders slumped in disappointment, if there was one thing Naruto Uzumaki hated it was waiting. Kyuubi sighed at his almost defeated expression and posture, she was certainly going to regret this but the look on his face was like a kicked puppy._

"_**There may be ways to acclimatise your body to my chakra if you use it for short periods of time, to get yourself used to it." **__Naruto's grin returned in full and he rushed forward to hug the human sized vixen. She promptly caught him with a tail to keep him at bay while she explained the rest of it. __**"However you will still have to wait for a few years; as your body is now, with its underdeveloped chakra coils, even I can't predict what effect my Chakra will have on your body."**__ Naruto looked ready to slump again but he figured that it was still an improvement over their original deal and he grinned before rushing in for that hug._

* * *

The kunai in his shoulder finally ripped through the cloth of his shirt, allowing him to drop ungracefully to the ground. He lay there panting with Mishoto over him, smiling profusely, deriving some kind of sick pleasure from seeing his opponent, young and weak as he was, beaten on the floor. He gave him a sturdy kick in the stomach to make sure he stayed down and crossed his arms over his chest; He always liked to taunt an opponent while they were at their weakest, to crush any dwindling hope they might still have.

"Is this all you've got Leaf shinobi? I honestly expected more." Naruto tried to ignore him, instead sensing his thoughts inward. However Mishoto wasn't making it easy, kicking him to punctuate certain words. His world was going increasingly dark and he didn't have much time.

"_Kyuubi I need some of your chakra!" _He heard a growl from inside his head.

"_**I already told you Kit, it would be dangerous. I don't know what will happen." **_Naruto grew increasingly desperate.

"_I don't have any other choice. Please Kyuubi, I need to save Tayuya!" _There was silence for a few moments before a sigh reverberated in his head.

"_**This is not going to end well but you are right, it seems there is no other choice." **_There was another pause and then there was the most excruciatingly painful experience Naruto would ever have the displeasure of living through. Fire shot forth from his core, spreading through his body like there was lava in his veins. It was indescribable, there was no one source of pain in his body, it was simply everywhere; in every cell in every open space in his body like it was being burnt to ashes only to reform again and start the process anew.

He wasn't the only one noting the changes, Mishoto had noticed the slight heat haze that was beginning to form around the quivering child. He also noted the agony on the boy's face, nothing that he was doing should have elicited that kind of response. He went on for another kick only for a hand to roughly grab his ankle. Mishoto looked in shock at the hand that looked as though it should belong to a demon, the fingernails had grown into dark grey claws, extending and ripping into the fabric of his pants, then into his leg.

He cried out from the unexpected pain and pulled away, just breaking the iron grip that was on his now injured foot. He took another look at the boy; the heat haze had become more prominent, actually appearing to turn the very air around him a light red. The strange whisker-like marks on his cheeks had widened and deepened into vicious scar-like grooves. The most worrying was the boy's eyes, they had slits for pupils and irises so red that you might think you were staring into a puddle of fresh blood.

There was an animalistic savagery behind those eyes that Mishoto had never seen before, that didn't even belong on a human's face. It actually scared him, a full grown man scared of a seven year-old. It might have been laughable if anybody else wouldn't have felt the same in his place. Naruto moved and Mishoto expected him to get to his feet, instead he only rose a little of the ground, adopting a more bestial four-legged stance.

That's when Mishoto found there was something to be more scared of than the kid's eyes, when he opened his mouth to snarl and showed off two gleaming elongated canines. They were like fangs and the hunger in the boy's eyes showed that he desperately wanted to use them on him. Mishoto couldn't help but be curious about the change, no matter how drastic or terrifying might be. However he was a trained fighter and any lapse in concentration such a studying your opponent too long could be fatal.

He quickly lashed out with a repetitive volley of kunai pairs, smirking when the kid didn't even move and every knife struck home. Eight Kunai littered his body, sending him reeling back against the tree. Blood poured from the open wounds but Naruto didn't even look phased; one by one he drew out the kunai and Mishoto could only watch in wonderment as the jagged holes they had made in his flesh sealed themselves. Each time they did a small plume of red steam would hiss out of each wound, leaving only the faintest hints that there was a cut in the first place.

"What are you?!" Naruto only growled in response and charged forward at blinding speed. Being an accomplished combatant Mishoto normally would be prepared for such a charge but he wasn't expecting it because of who his opponent was, he was also slightly frozen with fear. In a few seconds Naruto was in front of him, in the few after that Mishoto was halfway across the clearing with four jagged lines across his stomach.

He grimaced and clutch at the wound, desperately trying to stem the seemingly endless flow of blood that only served to coat his hands. Naruto stalked towards him, not even bothering to charge this time, a seven year old kid that managed to look like the Shinigami incarnate. The scrawny man tried to go for some shuriken in the pouch on his belt but his hands, slick with his own blood, couldn't gain a grip on the zipper.

It was too late, Naruto had already reached him and with one clawed hand he grabbed the front of Mishoto's jacket, halting any further attempt to stop the bleeding. The man could clearly see the sunlight reflecting off of the boy's enlarged teeth, his young face seemed permanently set in that ferocious snarl.

"**Where's Tayuya!" **The voice was truly demonic, gravely, completely out of place on such a young child. It only added to his menacing aura and frightening features, this was somebody you didn't lie to, the eyes told him as much.

"The river! There's a spot at the river we meet at whenever we get split up. It's next to a waterfall you can't miss it!" The words gushed out uncontrollably; it was like Naruto's eyes were actually pulling the information out of him, leaving him strangely hollow. Naruto just scowled, managing to look even more menacing than he had before. Mishoto was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that a seven year old boy was lifting him up with only one arm and didn't even look to be exerting himself.

Satisfied that he had the information he needed Naruto clenched his fist further on the jacket before winding back and throwing the man clear across the clearing. He impacted with a tree heavily, nearly splintering the wood and ripping the tree from its roots. He was unconscious before he even made contact, the power and the malevolence coming from the child proving too much and shutting down his mind from the strain. How could a mere mortal stand in the presence of even a fraction of the Kyuubi's Chakra.

Naruto was moving before Mishoto slumped to the ground, diving through trees and smashing through the ones he didn't want to go around. He left a small but direct path of destruction through the forest moving at speed he never could have dreamed of before. He moved from branch to branch, crashing through thick trunks like they were just another part of the air. His aura of Kyuubi's chakra floated out behind him as he ran like the wake of an enormous boat.

He only had the vague directions of Mishoto to go on but it didn't matter, by now he could smell Tayuya. He had been around her long enough that her scent was practically engrained into his memory; he could probably trace just a hint of it from miles away. The sound of rushing water and the crash of a waterfall meeting rocks was next to come into his sensory range and before long the trees dropped out from under him and he was next to a massive river.

It took him second to locate Tayuya and the slightly less familiar scent of the more brutish of the two men. He reeked of sweat, alcohol and women. Naruto growled loudly at the man who currently had his back turned to him, looking expectantly into the tree line. He turned suddenly, expecting some kind of wild animal from the sound it had made. What he didn't expect was the weakling of a kid that they were there to kidnap, surrounded by a veil of burning Chakra and the most feral expression on his face imaginable.

"H-Hey it's you!" Naruto just snarled a deep sound that even a man as large as Kagero found intimidating. By now Tayuya was struggling to get a glimpse of what was going on, she was facing the opposite direction and could only hear animalistic growling. "Where's Mishoto?" Another growl was his reply; Naruto's attention was on the redheaded bundle under his arms. "What did you do with him!?" By now Tayuya was really struggling to see something, writhing in the man's grip like a snake.

"Hey let me fucking see you dick!" Kagero absent-mindedly slammed the hilt of his massive sword into the girl's stomach, producing a quiet whimper before the girl went limp. Naruto's eyes widened and he let loose what would best be described as a roar. It actually created a wall of air that immediately rocked Kagero, loosening his grip on the earth but not quite knocking him off his feet.

"**You hurt Tayuya!" **It was Kagero's turn to widen his eyes at the sheer fury in Naruto's words. He had worked out by now that Mishoto was either unconscious somewhere or dead. Both scenarios scared him, Mishoto was the better fighter out of the two of them so Kagero saw no way of coming out of this unscathed.

"H-Hey look kid it's alright, I-I'll give you the girl back..." He very carefully set Tayuya down "...and I'll just walk away. Nobody needs to get hurt. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he took a hesitant step forward while Kagero took one back. Unfortunately for the larger man Tayuya chose that moment to roll over and painfully cough, forcing a small amount of blood to trickle from her mouth. Naruto could now clearly see the bruises on her face from where Kagero had hit her every time she had sworn while walking to the river.

If any of Naruto's more demonic features had dissipated in those brief moments the now decided to return full force.

"**You hurt her! You'll get no mercy from me!" **Kagero was downright scared now his plan had failed and it now looked like he was going to die for sure. He saw no other choice, as fast as possible he drew his sword and levelled the sharpest part of the blade against Tayuya's neck. He also placed his foot on her body to stop her moving or accidentally nicking herself on the sword.

"Stay there or I'll kill the girl!" Naruto said nothing, not moving an inch; he took one step back, then another before very slowly dropping down onto all four limbs. "Hey I said don't move! What are you doing?!" Again Naruto didn't rely but when Kagero strained his ears he could hear a steady growling from the boy's throat. He should have been more focused on his surrounding as when he looked, one moment Naruto was there, crouched down like he was going to pounce, the next he was right next to Kagero.

In a moment of panic he brought his sword around, forgetting about Tayuya entirely but Naruto rather calmly, despite his feral state, caught the edge of the blade with his own hand. Already the wound was healing itself as he pulled the weapon out of the massive man's hands and snapped it into two pieces. Kagero could only look in shock as the weapon was shattered, leaving his hands empty.

In that moment of hesitation Naruto grabbed the man and threw him into the river. He didn't stop there though; a second later he was sprinting across the surface of the river with the water steaming where his feet made contact. He grabbed Kagero's flailing hand and where skin met chakra cloak there was the sickening smell of burning flesh followed by the bulky man's screams. A few steps later and the man was precariously hanging over the edge of the falls; Naruto was seemingly unaffected by the rivers current and his feet didn't move from their spot.

"Please don't do this! I'm sorry!" The man was actually crying now, the pain in his arm and the fear of the drop beneath him reducing him to a blubbering wreck. The small part of the Kyuubi that had a hold of Naruto's consciousness at that moment was disgusted by the sight.

"**I said no mercy" **Naruto glared evilly but his hand stayed rooted to the man's wrist, it trembled slightly but the fingers didn't move. He was under the slight influence of a more malevolent being but Naruto was still Naruto and he didn't want to kill anybody, even this wreck of a man. With a dreadful growl he roared again, actually making Kagero soil himself, much to the sensitively-nosed jinchuuriki's chagrin.

He snarled again, quieter this time and violently threw the man back onto dry land to impact sickeningly with a tree trunk in the same manner as his partner only minutes ago. He was already forgotten by Naruto as he dashed away towards the still prone form of Tayuya, the cloak of chakra fading as he took his first step off of the rushing river water. He ran as quickly as he could which now seemed painfully slow compared to when he was under Kyuubi's influence.

He was pale and his legs shook uncontrollably but he made it over to Tayuya's side and hefted her onto his shoulders. It was difficult but he managed to make it back to where they had been about to set up camp. By now even with his immense and near unquenchable stamina Naruto could barely stay awake. He forced himself on, not wanting to lose himself quiet yet, not until he was sure Tayuya was okay at least.

He noticed that Mishoto was gone but he didn't care, all he wanted to do was slump against a tree and allow unconsciousness to take him. His skin still tingled uncomfortably from the oppressive Chakra that had been surrounding him and he felt naked without it. Luckily just as he was on the brink Tayuya stirred and looked up at him with bleary, uncomprehending eyes.

"Sh-shithead?" Naruto let out a half-hearted chuckle, even after all that she was still calling him that name. That was all he had left and after he made sure to give Tayuya a smile he promptly passed out, slumping to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.


	8. Chapter 8

"Urgh... five more minutes Tayuya-chan" The floor just felt so comfortable right now that...

"What the fuck did you just call me?!" Naruto was up in a flash, avoiding the very angry fist belonging to his travelling companion that was squarely aimed at his gut. He stood there a moment, roughly five feet away from her as they both just stared at one another in an awkward silence. Naruto assumed his famous position with his hand rubbing the back of his head so hard that he might have drawn blood.

"Sorry about that Tayuya, wasn't thinking straight." He smiled sheepishly and Tayuya just grunted and turned away in a huff. Naruto noticed for the first time that there was food roasting over a small fire that Tayuya had set up, he smiled, drooling slightly from the smell and went to sit down. Tayuya continued to ignore his as they ate but he could clearly see that as time passed her posture relaxed and she started to glance at him.

"This is really good Tayuya." She immediately turned away from him and he thought it was because she was still mad, what he didn't see was the slight pink tint that had managed to invade her cheeks. Once again their small campsite was invaded by awkward, unsettling silence that created a tension so thick Naruto actually tried to cut it with a kunai. Tayuya turned and saw the strange action, her eyes narrowing.

"What the fuck are you doing shithead?" Caught red handed Naruto smiled peevishly again and quickly hid the kunai in his pack.

"Nothing, just... practising?" Tayuya dropped her shoulders slightly; she was really going to have to teach him how to lie some day. Even she knew shinobi had to be effective liars sometimes. Tayuya sighed and stood up, it was late into their day but she figured they could still get some training in. She made a move to go off to one side of the clearing but Naruto stopped her.

"Wait Tayuya, I think we should take a break from training today. We can make it to the border by morning if we just walk from here." What he left out was that it was Kyuubi's suggestion. Tayuya just shrugged, if she had gone along with his suggestions up until now then this was hardly different. They both packed up and carefully hid the fire they had made before falling into step with one another.

They continued along for a while, both were either content not to talk or not risking the consequences if they did. Tayuya had slowly gotten used to the dark of the forests in her short time with Naruto and was stumbling or slipping much less than usual. Even so, Naruto was constantly aware of her position, making sure she was in fact following him and wasn't getting herself hurt. More than a few times she had found herself tripping over a root, about to greet the floor with her face only to be caught in a surprisingly gentle embrace.

Naruto never even wanted a thank you; he simply did it because he didn't want to see anybody hurt. In their time together he finally realised there was an 'especially' in front of that when it applied to Tayuya. Being the energetic girl that she was Tayuya quickly became bored with the never-ending silence and there was nothing to actually see in the forest. In fact the only thing that she could do was listen out for the various animal calls that pervaded the dense trees.

"Hey Shithead." Naruto didn't turn from where he was looking and carried on walking, carefully navigating past shrubs and loose rots.

"Yeah?" Tayuya grumbled slightly over his lack of attention.

"W-What happened back there?" She flinched inwardly and cursed herself for stuttering again; it was becoming something she despised but found she occasionally couldn't help around Naruto. For his part Naruto simply froze for a moment before continuing on at a slower pace, something Tayuya had difficulty noticing. However she did notice the slightly hesitant tone of his voice when he answered.

"What do you mean?" Tayuya narrowed her eyes, something that didn't make walking any easier in the near pitch black.

"I mean with those two fucktards back there. One second they were beating the crap out of you and carrying me off, the next thing I know is there was some kind of wild animal growling and I'm unconscious." This time Naruto stopped entirely and Tayuya nearly walked straight into his back, only managing to swerve around him and trip from her awkward footing. Once again she was immediately in Naruto's arms being slowly lowered to the floor where he sat down next to her with his legs crossed.

Naruto looked contemplative for a while, he had no idea how to even begin to explain all of this to her, or even if he wanted to. Despite all their time together Naruto knew barely anything about his companion, she never opened up and never talked about herself. He sighed slightly; it was probably a reciprocal thing, he too hadn't talked about his past in the slightest so maybe one of them simply needed to go first.

"What do you know about the nine-tailed fox?" Tayuya's face was hidden by darkness but with his eyesight Naruto could clearly see the confusion on her face.

"What the fuck's a fox got to do with this? Is that what attacked those guys?" Naruto chuckled lightly.

"Sort of, but no." Tayuya was getting irritated with all the riddles and half-answers and Naruto could see that. "The nine-tailed fox was a demon." He heard a very loud coughing in his head that sounded just as irate as Tayuya looked. "Sorry, a..." he was at a blank; he actually didn't fully understand what Kyuubi was himself.

"_**We were once known as the Biju." **_Naruto was surprised at the melancholy in Kyuubi's words; it wasn't a tone she used at all.

"... A Biju." Again there was confusion written across Tayuya's features. "I don't really understand it myself but from what I know the nine-tailed fox was the most powerful of them." While her curiosity was slowly being sated she still felt as though Naruto was avoiding her initial question however he didn't give her a chance to interject. "Seven years ago the Fourth Hokage..." He was concentrating on what he said and missed the slight flinch that Tayuya let out after hearing the name "...sealed the nine-tails into a baby to contain its power."

Recovered from her shock at hearing the fourth Hokage Tayuya returned to her default scowl. She was thinking what about this fairytale had to do with anything. Of course it only took a few moments for her mind to start putting the pieces together; the animalistic growling she had heard, Naruto's age, the supposed power of this nine-tailed fox. Her head suddenly shot up in shock, staring straight at Naruto whose eyes were firmly fixed on the ground, unwilling to meet her gaze.

"Yeah, I'm the kid that it got sealed into. I'm the container for the Kyuubi no Yoko." Tayuya stared for a while, searching Naruto's eyes for any signs of deceit. It didn't take long, he was a terrible liar and Tayuya could tell that he was telling the truth, or at least he believed he did. She sighed, that meant she was either travelling with some kind of lunatic or a container for an unearthly powerful demon spirit; perfect. At least it explained why she wasn't currently on her way to either a slave camp or to be some whore for some potential buyer.

"S-So you saved me?" Naruto's head shot up so fast he thought he had gotten whiplash, he hadn't been expecting that reaction. He had thought she would run away or shout things at him, maybe even try to kill him like the rest of his village had.

"Y-Yeah." Suddenly Tayuya did something he never thought he would ever see her do, never mind actually experience for himself. She shot forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto's shoulders and held him there while he stayed rigid. It was partly out of shock, partly because he had never been on the receiving end of a hug before and partly because he was afraid of what Tayuya might do if he moved at all. Finally she released him and sat back, the darkness of the forest luckily hiding her blush from Naruto's eyes, not that he would have noticed in his state of surprise.

"Thank you." She wasn't naive like most seven year-olds, she knew exactly what happened to those taken away by slavers. It wasn't like the watered down stories parents told their children to keep them in line. You were either forced into back-breaking labour until the day you dropped to the dust or you were used as some pervert's sick pleasure toy until he lost interest with you. And even that explanation was still a little watered down. She shuddered at the thought, a hug was the least she could do to thank the boy who had saved her from either of those two fates.

Naruto for his part was speechless, he hadn't even thought about it when he went to save Tayuya, it had just seemed instinctual. Now she was thanking him, actually thanking him; he had never been thanked before; nobody had ever been grateful for anything he had done before. His hand moved on its own up to the back of his head where he nervously rubbed like he was trying to polish his scalp to the bone.

"It was nothing." Tayuya looked at him sternly before scooting closer to him until she was right next to him. He leaned in for another hug, wrapping her hands around him and resting her head against his shoulder.

"No it wasn't, you saved me." Naruto was still at a loss for words but now that Tayuya had thanked him her curiosity had gotten the better of her. "But just because you have this thing inside of you..." Naruto heard an irritated huff inside his head "How does that mean you could beat those guys?" Naruto looked up at the stars that filtered through the leaves for a moment then back at the girl on his shoulder.

"She gave me some of her chakra." Tayuya sat up a little straighter.

"She?" Naruto spent the next half an hour explaining how he had first met the creature living inside him, all about his mindscape and what Kyuubi taught him. He left out anything about his village or the way he had been treated but if Tayuya noticed she didn't pry; she still had her own secrets to keep. She seemed most interested in the power that Naruto had used to save her but when she asked him to show her he explained about why it was dangerous. Again she didn't show it but her respect for Naruto went up after hearing that. When he was finished he sat back, awaiting Tayuya's judgment, something he found rather nerve-wracking.

"So wait, you've been getting extra fucking lessons this whole time?" Naruto felt a large drop of sweat develop on the side of his head that just seemed to hang there as he stared awkwardly at her. "What?" He shook his head smiling; she was still Tayuya after all.

"Yeah, but they're in my head so I'm not really sure what I can do." Tayuya just looked disgruntled that her companion got extra knowledge than her. "But Kyuubi says that when we get to Suna we can get a proper teacher who can give us jutsu and stuff." His enthusiasm was irrepressible and Tayuya immediately found her spirits brightening a little, even if her usual semi-scowl was back in place.

"Well then come on, we might as well get going." Naruto nodded cheerfully, feeling as though a massive weight had lifted off of his shoulders and stomach. He almost felt as though he could breathe more easily. Of course many hours later when the forest dropped away and their vision was replaced with nothing but sand, sand, and more sand, that weight returned tenfold. Tayuya was equally shocked, the slight happy attitude she had developed over the last day of talking vanished as she gawked at the intimidating desert that stretched out before them.

"We're supposed to spend a fucking week in that?" Naruto was equally incredulous, although Kyuubi was staying suspiciously quiet to his questioning.

"I guess so, but it's nearly sunrise so we should probably get some sleep now." Tayuya didn't move, she just stood there with wide eyes staring out at the impossible scenery.

"How the fuck are we going to survive out there you shithead? We can't carry a week's worth of water!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously, more concerned with how they were going to get food. Fortunately Kyuubi chose this moment to finally start answering his questions.

"Oh okay, Kyuubi says that I should be able to smell out oases and there will be desert animals around there that we can eat." Tayuya narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

"Did_ Kyuubi _also tell you how we aren't going to freeze to death?" Naruto heard an irritated growl obviously aimed at Tayuya for the mocking way she said her name.

"Yeah, apparently we're supposed to wear a load of our clothes all at once." Tayuya was about to retort that the idea sounded stupid, in her own special way of course, but she stopped dead. It actually sounded like a decent plan; she just didn't want to admit it. She merely grunted as a response and went about setting up their camp; she wasn't sure why she was annoyed right now but she didn't really care. She just wanted to get across the desert and be done with it.

Her mood thankfully eased by the time the two of them were snuggling together for warmth. The fact that it had gotten a lot colder the closer they got to the border wasn't missed by either child. She drifted off to sleep while Naruto had his first lesson on desert survival, Kyuubi assured him many times that he was going to need it; not just now but for a long time if he planned on staying in Suna.

* * *

It was the middle of their week-long trek across the Wind Country's desert and the patience of both children were wearing thin. Tayuya had seemed perpetually annoyed ever since Naruto had seen her shivering one night and had offered her his warm jacket. She had refused of course, no matter who it was she wasn't willing to look weak in front of anybody. Of course Naruto merely kept his arm extended as they walked, not making a move to return the jacket to his shoulders.

Tayuya had grumbled a lot before accepting the jacket, if he wasn't going to use it then she might as well have. Luckily she missed Naruto's smirk, she didn't realise it but he was beginning to understand how she thought a lot more clearly now. Of course she had immediately felt better after putting the jacket on but Naruto had come to expect no gratitude from anything less than saving the girl's life. Not that he minded of course, he was simply glad for the company.

He felt as though he had found a true friend in Tayuya, her no-nonsense attitude meant that she could just take him for who he was. She also wouldn't admit it but he could see that she had gone through some serious hardships in her life; it meant that she could at least understand him. He always thought about asking her about it, after telling her about himself but he thought against it, deciding that she could open up to him in her own time without him pressuring her.

Currently they were hunkered in a small cave waiting for a sandstorm to pass; they had learned in the first few days that the phenomena came fast and without warning. Luckily they only lasted for an hour or so before clearing up; it was the lack of moisture in the air and the constant chill that gave the two worry. Days were spent sleeping under and rock or in any shelter they could find to keep the scorching sun off of them, nights were spent walking, usually in silence.

They moved from oasis to oasis, eating and drinking what sparse supplies they could find. Thankfully Kyuubi proved correct and Naruto could sniff them out, although sometimes it would send them quite the distance off of their path. Naruto never was sure how Kyuubi could possibly know where she was going when everything just seemed to stretch out in a uniform blend of sand and sky. When he asked she just shrugged, telling him it was something he wouldn't understand; answers like that always served to irritate him, much to Kyuubi's amusement he found.

Another pastime of the old vixen was serving to make any space the two children shared awkward. Even if Naruto didn't understand most of the words or euphemisms she used he got the gist of what she was implying. It didn't help that the two would end up wrapped in each other's arms when the temperatures dropped before they went to sleep. What was most annoying was that Naruto had no way of blocking off their mental link to one another so her laughter couldn't be silenced.

"How long do you think this bullshit sandstorm's going to last?" Tayuya shook him out of his thoughts and he looked up, maybe a bit too hastily as he managed to bang his head on the low roof. He rubbed the spot where the rock had struck and winced painfully while Tayuya stifled a laugh.

"I don't know, maybe another thirty minutes? Who can tell with these things? What I'd give just for some rain." It never rained out here, it seemed even the word rain was lacking from the desert's vocabulary. There was only water in the oases because of underground streams that were somehow protected from the harsh sun.

"Oh please, this is shit-all compared to the fucking rock hail back in Iwa" Tayuya immediately clasped her hands over her mouth; she hadn't meant to let that slip. Naruto immediately took notice of the strange behaviour until he realised Tayuya had just spoken about herself. She had just accidentally let him know something about her past without meaning to. It didn't really help him though, while he knew where Earth country was he didn't know anything about it.

"You're from Earth Country?" She stared at him harshly.

"Yeah, so what? Big fucking deal." Naruto just shrugged his eyes genuinely innocent and Tayuya found that her rocky outer shell was more difficult to maintain than usual. Her shoulders slumped, when she actually thought about it she had to admit it felt good to actually talk about her past, even if it was just that shred of information.

"What was it like?" She looked up at him and nearly blanched at the puppy-like curiosity on her face.

"Dry." Naruto smiled a broad grin; he had just asked a question about Tayuya's past and she had answered, probably truthfully. It was like a small breakthrough and he couldn't help but feel a little proud. That dam he had envisioned early had managed to gain a few new cracks.

"Drier than this? What about where you lived?" Tayuya wasn't speaking but somehow she managed to go even quieter, the small cave becoming deathly silent. Naruto immediately sensed the hesitation over the question and decided that he was asking too much without giving anything in return. "I never know what to think when I imagine the Leaf Village." Tayuya finally started breathing again as she looked questioningly at Naruto.

"It was pretty a lot of the time. At night you could see the stars but the edge of the sky always had this orange tint. None of the houses ever looked the same and there was so much variety in every street it was like you were walking into a whole different country. From the Hokage monument it would stretch on for what I used to think was forever." He smiled as he thought of those good memories from his time there; it had become so quiet after he stopped talking that even Tayuya's meek voice had no difficulty reaching Naruto's ears.

"In the winter we would always get snow, it would cover everything and make it seem really clean and fresh. Then when it melted the ground would go a funny shade of red and the other children used to paint themselves with it like we would see the soldiers in the pictures do." Naruto's smile was softer now; he could tell that it had been incredibly difficult for Tayuya to tell him even that small snippet of information. It would be pressing his luck to ask any more.

"I think the storms letting up. We should get ready to move on." Tayuya just nodded slowly, her mind obviously elsewhere but she mechanically went through the procedure of packing up the gear. Naruto was happy inside, perhaps now he could finally start to learn more about her.

* * *

Not even half an hour later another sandstorm passed over them, unfortunately they couldn't find another cave in time. They were forced to walk through it which was made all the more difficult by the fact that it completely threw off Naruto's sense of smell, leaving them to rely solely on Kyuubi's directions. Visibility was so low that they had to hold hands just so they wouldn't lose one another, Naruto's heightened senses meant absolutely nothing in this kind of weather.

Finally they crawled into a cave, tired out and partially blinded from all the sand. Naruto might have regretted his earlier fascination with sand if it weren't for his natural determination. Tayuya on the other hand was much more willing to berate him for it.

"Fucking Sunagakure, it had to be motherfucking Suna. You couldn't have chosen Kumo could you? No it had to be the one with all the god damn motherfucking piece of shitty ass sand!" As she was saying this she was pouring the surprising amount of said sand out of her sandals, something Naruto figured would probably be a good idea for him as well.

"Well it's nearly sun rise anyway so we might as well have found shelter." Tayuya merely shot him a deathly glare and Naruto quickly quietened down. She was in one of her moods and nothing Naruto said right now was going to help him. Unfortunately neither of them were even remotely tired yet, despite all the walking they had done. The chill of the desert night permeated even the rocks surrounding them, forcing them to huddle together.

A fire was impractical as they would only end up killing themselves from the smoke; not that they actually had any wood for them to burn. The only trees they had actually come across in the entire time out in the desert were a few scarce palms. They couldn't even sit in silence, the sandstorm outside was causing a dull roar that echoed around the tiny cave, grating on their nerves to the point that they couldn't even hear themselves think.

"Don't you fucking dare go into your mindscape Shithead. You're not leaving me alone in here with this crappy noise." Naruto smiled sheepishly and would have rubbed the back of his head if his hand wasn't otherwise occupied with hugging Tayuya for warmth. He was actually planning to escape and talk with Kyuubi for a bit and Tayuya had nearly caught him in the act.

"What do you want to talk about then?" Immediately Tayuya became defensive, narrowing her eyes at Naruto.

"Who says I wanted to talk? I just don't like being left alone." Immediately she turned away and scowled, she hadn't meant to sound like that, as if she needed Naruto. It was besides that point that right now she did in fact need his warmth. It was almost unnatural how warm Naruto could manage to be despite everything that should say otherwise, he was better than a blanket most nights; one more thing Tayuya would be loathed to admit. Naruto just shrugged, an impressive action considering his arms were otherwise engaged and Tayuya for her part sighed.

"When you talked about your village you seemed to be happy, so why'd you leave?" She could feel Naruto stiffen in her arms, something that made their position markedly more uncomfortable. "Also you only talked about the place, what about the people?" Naruto relaxed a little, but not to how he was before; strangely Tayuya also noted that he had become colder, as if his emotions were tied in with his body heat.

"There was old man Hokage, he would come around every month to check on me and we would talk for a while. Nothing specific, we would talk about food or how my studies were going." Tayuya noticed that he had completely avoided her first question and was too busy considering this that his counter question came as a complete surprise. "What about you? Was there anybody special in Earth Country?" Tayuya paled a little and Naruto could already see her unwillingness to answer; however he had told her something and now she felt like she owed him something in return.

"I had my grandfather, he wasn't much and he would ignore me half the time but we had a few good moments..." Her face fell and she mumbled something Naruto wasn't supposed to hear but couldn't help anyway "...When he was sober."

"What about your parents?" Tayuya's face shot around so fast that Naruto thought it might twist off, there was fire in her eyes and her glare was hard as ice.

"What about _yours_ asshole!" All the anger bled out of her features when she saw the emptiness and sadness in Naruto's eyes, unbidden and unshielded unlike normal.

"I don't know. I never knew them. The old man told me they died after I was born but he never told me anything else about them." Tayuya blinked a few times.

"Y-You're an orphan?" Naruto nodded sadly. Tayuya was having difficulties believing him, he acted so cheerful and impossibly happy yet everything he told her about himself only made his life sound worse and worse. "Me too." Naruto's head rose slowly and she saw something in his eyes, understanding. It gave her a little strength to keep speaking, something she never thought she would do when it came to this topic.

"They died when I was young as well, I don't even remember their faces. I was never told how or why they died but it had something to do with the last war." Naruto didn't even realise he was doing it but he found himself hugging Tayuya a little tighter. Once again the sandstorm outside began to die down but Naruto didn't say anything while Tayuya seemed too distracted to even notice.

"So what about your grandfather?" He thought Tayuya was going to round on him again but instead she just lifted her head wearily, her eyes dulled and tired.

"Someone once told me he was a great man, a powerful ninja that was feared during the second shinobi war." Her head dropped again "But he hated me, said I reminded him of the daughter he lost. He drank all of the time and when he drank he would get angry." She left the sentence hanging but Naruto could see where it was heading. "I had no friends to turn to; their parents told them to stay away from me because of something my grandfather did during the war."

Naruto could understand this, there was nobody in his age group that he could talk to, nobody who would come up to him and try and befriend him anymore. Those that did were punished, those that didn't would whisper behind his back, spread rumours of the 'monster of the leaf'. Children would sometimes run away from him out of fear, others would actively try to hurt him to appear brave. It was all the same to Naruto, the loneliness, the pain, and sadness.

"Everybody in my village hated me. The adults would beat me or ignore me and the children would whisper and throw stones in my direction. People would come and try to burn down my apartment and scratch things into the wall. They all believed I was the so-called demon that was sealed inside of me. I had no friends except for the Hokage. The orphanage even kicked me out when I was four, said I disrupted the other children." This time it was Tayuya who found herself subconsciously hugging Naruto in closer.

"How do you do it? How do you stay so happy?" Naruto's shoulders slumped.

"I wasn't, I was never happy in that village. The day before I left I was about to kill myself." Tayuya involuntarily gasped, it was quiet but still noticeable. "It was the Kyuubi that saved me, we talked for a while and she convinced me to leave, to find somewhere I can live happily, somewhere I can find friends." He looked up and smiled at Tayuya, a genuine smile that seemed to warm the cave slightly. "And I met you, my first real friend."

Again Tayuya gasped but this time managed to keep it in her head. The fact that he considered her a friend, despite how she treated him, despite how she talked and acted. She didn't know whether to be happy or smack him for being so soft. She decided on both.

* * *

Naruto was still rubbing his cheek thirty minutes after they had left the cave and Tayuya was still internally smiling. They had both lapsed into a pleasant silence, content with their own thoughts for the time being; at least until Naruto noticed something off in the distance.

"Hey Tayuya I see something." Tayuya just groaned, he would do this all the time, announcing every little thing he saw from strange birds to single trees that jutted out of the sand like the solitary bones of some great creature.

"Unless it's Suna or a freaking dango stand I don't give a shit" Naruto peered harder through the darkness, trying to see what it was. A bit further on he had a better picture and was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Well it isn't dango."


	9. Chapter 9

As he took in the sight before him Naruto's inner skeptic couldn't help but comment. For a hidden village Sunagakure really stuck out from the surrounding flatlands, easily spotted from miles away. In fact it was an awe inspiring sight, comparable with Konoha's famous north gate. The mighty stone walls rose up like cliff faces on either side of a narrow passageway, barely wide enough for three men to walk down side by side.

Kyuubi told him that it was the only entrance in or out of the village, or at least the only obvious way as there were bound to have hidden routes in ninja villages. There were also protective seals on the surfaces of the impressive walls designed to stop any chakra-based manoeuvres that might help enemy ninja scale the walls. Not only that but the defences themselves were staggered upwards with a daunting array of Suna ninja constantly alert and ready for any hint of invasion or infiltration.

The entire sight from up close was enough to make both children gulp with anxiety. They walked up, both desperately fighting their bodies' natural urge to tremble when faces with such an overwhelming show of military prowess. Naruto quickly realised that the Village Hidden in the Sand easily lived up to both of its monikers; there was certainly a lot of sand, the discomfort in his shoes told him as much. The desert surrounding them acted as almost the initial layer of defence for the village, keeping out all but the most determined would-be visitors or attackers. Few would bother trying to find the village if they didn't already know where to look and the size of the desert combined with the locations of the oases made it impossible for any enemy to reach it conveniently.

It was only because of Naruto's heightened smell and Kyuubi's directions that they were even able to make it here without a map. Without one or the other they could have spent weeks wandering the desert or simply have died from dehydration long ago. The thought brought another gulp to Naruto's throat as he began approaching what appeared to be the ninja guarding the entrance. He was an average-sized person with the white veil that seemed practically mandatory for many Suna residents.

One could immediately tell that this was a job that the man had been in for years and had lost interest in not long after he received the position. He was stuck in a twilight state of chuunin that never quite reached jounin and ended up with the same eternal menial task. Of course for two seven year olds that fact was lost and the imposing man lost none of his intimidation factor; if anything the bored manner with which he carried out the job only added to it.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw two solitary children approach him, seemingly from out of the desert itself. He peered harder and tried to find the adults that must be with them but when that failed he just stared at them, wondering if the desert heat had finally gotten to him. When he realised he wasn't in fact seeing things he looked over the children more carefully. Once he did he realised that they each carried packs as if they had been on a long hike, for them to actually be here that must have been true.

He was about to address them and ask what their business was, still in disbelief about just what he was seeing, when a higher ranked sensor nin dropped down from the defence layer above him. He quickly sprinted towards the gate guard as Naruto and Tayuya watched on with both anticipation and slight concern. The new arrival would occasionally throw fleeting glances their way when he whispered to the first guard.

Once he was finished he took one more look at the pair, or more specifically Naruto and then vanished in a blur, sand lightly floating down from where he had been standing. The original guard coughed loudly and was once again joined by another sand shinobi, this time being the one whispering into the other's ear. Naruto was starting to become highly anxious and even though she didn't say anything he knew Tayuya was feeling the same way from the way she reached over and took his hand lightly. He knew she mustn't have even realised she was doing it; she wasn't exactly the hand-holding type.

The first ninja finished and returned to lazily leaning against the passage wall, keeping an eye on the horizon. The newest guard quickly walked over, slightly scaring the pair as he made a beeline directly towards them. The new arrival was similar to the first guard in that he was of average height and size but instead of the more traditional veil his whole head was wrapped up in linen bandages so only his nose and eyes were showing.

"I have been instructed to bring you straight to the Kazekage. Please follow me." He said nothing more as he quickly turned on a heel and started walking down the tight passageway. Stunned for a few moments Naruto just stared after the man, as did Tayuya. Sensing this, the ninja turned and gave the two a look that said he wasn't going to wait for very long. That was sufficient in snapping the pair out of the shock-induced paralysis and they very quickly hurried after the man, barely keeping up with his long strides.

Past the intimidating outer wall the children could breathe a sigh of relief, before taking another sharp intake of air as they looked around the village proper. It was a beautiful sight to behold, the buildings themselves seemed to rise out of the very land itself, taking abstract and often intricate forms. Whilst everything seemed to be made out of the same beige stone that didn't stop each building from managing its own individuality.

Banners and brightly coloured ornaments hung from windows and walls. Each opening in the walls be they balcony or window emitted the warm glow of a lived-in home. Even the shops could be easily distinguished with their various wares and means of advertising proudly displayed, ready to catch the eye or nose of any passerby. In a way it was exactly the same as Konoha, the same spirit and energy; in others it was completely different, the alien architecture and fashions of the people to name a few.

They made sure to stick close to the guiding ninja, his long and fast strides meant they almost had to jog to keep in line with him. Suddenly he stopped, almost making Naruto bump into him from behind but he managed to catch himself. The reason soon became clear when another sand ninja appeared in a swirl of dust and the two talked animatedly. Naruto tried to be patient but that was hardly in his personality; soon he began to fidget and not long after that he started to look around.

They seemed to have moved into a less densely populated area of the village; large formations of rock rose up erratically and the entire area seemed to be some kind of playground. A group of children were running, playing a game with a ball that Naruto recognised but never learnt the name of. He smiled, now that he was here maybe he could join in with them, maybe he could have the fun that they appeared to be having if their joyous cries were anything to go on.

As the ninja escorting them continued to talk to the latest newcomer Naruto watched the game transfixed, trying to learn how it worked. He was just beginning to understand that it had something to do with getting the ball to one of the two ends of the field before one of the kids kicked the ball slightly too hard. It shot away from the group, bouncing away to one side; it rolled, coming to a stop at the feet of a small child standing next to a set of swings.

Naruto looked at him for a moment as the boy hesitantly picked up the escaped ball. He was small, smaller than Naruto but they were obviously around the same age, his spiky red hair sat in a mop on his head, not dissimilar to Naruto's own hair. He wore a beige wrap around his upper body and shoulders and a pair of darker shorts with plain sandals. In his other hand he clutched a stuffed toy which Naruto noticed looked particularity worn from age.

The child approached the larger group, almost as tentatively as he had picked up the ball itself. After a moment of what seemed like self deliberation he held the ball out to the other kids with a meek smile. The reaction he got wasn't at all what Naruto was expecting; the children seemed terrified of the boy, pointing and nervously whispering amongst themselves. When he took another step forward it was the final straw, the children took off, screaming and crying in fear of him.

Even more unexpected was what happened after that, the smaller boy extended his hand, almost longingly, tears openly streaming down his face. As if in reaction to the boy's torment the very sand at his feet writhed and moved before shooting out, ensnaring the foot of the child that had originally kicked the ball towards him. Naruto was moving before he fully understood what was happening himself, his body just working on instinct.

He arrived just in time to block the powerful stream of sand that was aimed directly at the pony-tailed boy on the floor. Naruto's arms were crossed over his chest protectively, bleeding from the mass of sand that had hit him. The boy behind him took the chance to scramble to his feet and sprint away, not even glancing behind him at the boy who had saved him from injury. The red-haired boy for his part looked on at Naruto with dread; he was still crying and he took that moment to turn and run. He accidently dropped the bear he had been holding so that he could bring his arms up to attempt to wipe the tears from his eyes.

Naruto wasn't sure what to think, the boy had seemingly controlled the sand through his will alone, yet at the same time his face easily showed he was just as frightened when it happened as the boy he had inadvertently attacked. Naruto looked down at the discarded bear and towards the fleeting form of the boy and that was all it took to make up his mind. He grabbed the bear as he ran, determined to catch up to him and get some answers.

* * *

It was difficult, the kid knew Suna better than Naruto did and he almost lost him a few times but luckily he eventually found him. He was hunched over at the end of the darkest part of an alleyway, the only indication that he was there at all were the quiet sobs coming from the shadows. Naruto approached cautiously; he easily discerned the small boy's form from the surrounding darkness with his eyes and walked straight up to him.

The boy took a moment out of his crying to look up at Naruto; it seemed he had as little difficulty seeing Naruto as Naruto did him. Naruto held out his hand, in it the boy's discarded bear, when he did nothing Naruto moved closer, still with the bear held out between them. The red-haired boy just looked at him with wide, tear stained eyes, disbelieving almost. He even rubbed them once as if he believed Naruto would simply vanish as a hallucination.

"Why don't you run like the others?"

Naruto smiled as kindly as he could as the boy finally accepted the bear, clutching it close to his chest like it was his own mother. Naruto walked a little bit closer and sat down opposite him. "Your eyes."

The boy looked startled, but no less hesitant or disbelieving. A finger moved up to his eye and lightly traced around the thick black lines that encircled it. "M-My eyes?" Naruto nodded slowly, his smile taking on a more sombre and saddened look, one that he had no difficulty in dredging up as he looked back over his life.

"Our eyes are the same." The boy seemed to peer into Naruto's eyes for what seemed like an eternity, searching for what it was the blond meant.

"Y-You have it too." He turned away, looking at the ground. "The loneliness and the pain." Naruto nodded again, still slowly; he didn't want to startle the boy.

"Why do they run from you?" First the other boy looked up in shock, like he just expected Naruto to know and even if he didn't, he still saw the display earlier.

"T-The s-sand..." Naruto firmly shook his head, cutting him off before he could finish.

"You tried to help them, giving them back their ball. Why did they run?" The other boy seemed almost desperate now. He was having a conversation with somebody his own age, he felt like if he told him the truth he would lose this one shred of normality. Sensing his discomfort Naruto tried something else; this boy had intrigued him, there was something about him like an intrinsic bond between the two like they could relate on some unseen level.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The other boy looked up, visibly relieved at the change in conversation.

"Gaara no Subaku." Naruto smiled brightly, the warmth he emitted encouraged Gaara to try his own, weaker smile. Before the conversation could develop any further they were interrupted by a swirl of dust that deposited the ninja guide from earlier and a frightened Tayuya.

"You! I told you to follow me and..." Mid-sentence the guard saw the other occupant of the alley and took an instinctual step back. "Gaara, I did not know you were here." He thought for a moment. "I was given orders to bring you to your father if I saw you." Gaara nodded meekly but the smile that Naruto had given him just managed to stay where it was. The older ninja walked over and when the three children were all around him he made a hand sign and the four of them disappeared in a swirl of dust.

Naruto had never experienced a shunshin before and it was disorienting to say the least, immediately he lost his sense of balance and would have fallen over if it weren't for the firm hand on his shoulder. It seemed the older ninja wasn't taking any chances on losing his charge again. After a moment of confusion and his senses catching up to his location Naruto realised he was in an area that was unfamiliar to him. They were in an office of sorts built out of the same stone as the rest of the village but lavishly furnished.

Despite the lush walls and floor the desk that was the centre of the room was rather plain, just a normal rectangular wooden desk. Even so, it managed to convey the importance of the man sitting behind it. He was a thin but well-built man with shaggy auburn hair not dissimilar from Gaara's. He wore a black collared shirt with a mesh shirt underneath; he maintained a perfect look of indifference as his eyes lazily, but attentively, moved over the four entrees.

"Gaara, wait outside. I will speak with you later." His voice was calm but there was an undeniable authority behind the words that spoke of his importance. Gaara nodded meekly and timidly walked out of the room with his head hung low, red hair falling across his eyes as he did so. The ninja who had escorted Naruto and Tayuya this far took that as an opportunity to walk up to the man. By now Naruto had recognised that this was the Kazekage, evidenced by the white robes and green-trimmed hat that hung on the wall.

Once he made his realisation he bowed his head down low. Earlier he had run away from his guide and right now he didn't want to cause any more of a disturbance. This was his fresh start and he wouldn't let anything ruin it, not even himself. Tayuya just looked across at him, furrowing her brow at the odd behaviour. She didn't have the benefit of having known a Kage personally and didn't fully understand the position she was in. The side of the Kazekage's mouth twitched up into a small smile, amused by the small child bowing to him.

"That is not necessary Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto raised his head slowly the worry evident in his eyes.

"H-How did you know my name?" The Kazekage merely smiled again in the exact same way.

"I am the Yondaime Kazekage; there is nothing in this village that I cannot find out." Seeing Naruto's slightly awed expression he chuckled rather humourlessly. "If you must know the ninja that escorted you heard you say your name when you introduced yourself to my son." Naruto let out a slightly sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his head, the unspoken tension in the room finally broken. The Kazekage leaned forward in his chair with his elbows resting on the sturdy desk and his hands forming a pyramid as he peered closer at the young boy.

"I am not one for small talk nor long drawn out conversations. I had you brought here because one of my sensor-nin detected the presence of a strange chakra signature." His glance flicked between the two children. "That would either make you enemy ninja's that are henged or under some kind of genjutsu..." His stare hardened and seemed to rest on the both of them simultaneously, causing both children to gulp audibly "...or one of you is a jinchuuriki."

"_**He's talking about you Kit. A jinchuuriki is one who bears a Biju sealed within them." **_Naruto nodded in understanding, drawing a curious glance from the Kazekage who took the nod as a sign that he was correct.

"Interesting. If I may ask, which of the tailed beasts do you contain?" Naruto looked at the man nervously even as a growl rolled through his mind.

"_**I hate that name; it's almost as bad as demon." **_Naruto just laughed timidly, unsure of what to do. _**"You may as well tell him Kit, he is the leader of this place and will not hesitate to kill you if he deems it necessary."**_

"T-The nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi." The Kazekage's eyes widened for a moment and his features gained a broad grin as he took in the news.

"A child is the jinchuuriki of the most powerful entity since the Jubi itself?" Naruto nodded, not fully understanding the words the older man was saying.

"_**A story for another time Kit. Right now you have more urgent things to hear." **_Once again he heard the pang of melancholy in the Kyuubi's voice, it just sounded out of place. By now the Kazekage's attention was solely focused on Naruto, he felt the heat of the man's gaze as he searched him for any signs of deceit.

"Last I heard the Kyuubi was under Konoha's control. So why are you here?" Naruto became nervous again; unsure of what telling the truth might bring him. On the one hand he still didn't want to do anything to jeopardize his new life, on the other he worried that if people here found out about his past then it would all just repeat itself.

"I had to leave." He left it at that, it was vague but completely honest, the best of both scenarios. The Kazekage hardly seemed satisfied but he still had many questions, the most important immediately coming to mind.

"What is the relationship you share with the demon sealed inside of you? You know of it and it hardly seems likely Konoha told you considering what happened to their village seven years ago." Naruto immediately sent a questioning thought to the Kyuubi who stayed mysteriously silent, despite the demon remark. "I assume you have had contact with the demon yet you seem healthy enough. Does this mean you are in control of it?" Again Naruto was unsure of how to answer, the questions seemed to come non-stop and it took him a moment to catch up.

"I wouldn't say that. We have more of a..." He briefly searched for the right word. "...an understanding." It appeared that this wasn't the answer the Kazekage had hoped for, however it still seemed that it was good enough and he nodded with his face set back in its previous indifferent state.

"My son Gaara is like you, the jinchuuriki of the one-tails, Shukaku. Unlike you his demon torments him, stops him from sleeping and if this carries on I fear I will have to kill my son before he gets out of hand." Naruto would have cried out in protest if Kyuubi hadn't quickly shushed him from inside his head, he didn't know if the sound as laced by something but it had an immediate calming effect.

"I wish for you to help Gaara control the demon within him. Befriend him, train him, beat him if you must..." under his breath he muttered "...or can..." then carried on in his normal tone "...but I wish for him to at least gain the same control that you do." He sighed heavily "If that is not the case by this time next year I will unfortunately have to go through with my original plan." Again Naruto wanted to cry out and again Kyuubi calmed him quickly.

"You will live with us in the Kazekage mansion. There are plenty of spare rooms so that your..." he shot a glance at Tayuya who had miraculously stayed perfectly quiet throughout the entire encounter "...companion can stay as well." He gave one last nod and the ninja who had escorted them before materialised between the two startled children. The Kazekage waved absently with his hand and the sand shinobi gave a curt nod before leading the two out of the office.

Once outside Naruto released the breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding, Tayuya seemed equally relieved when he glanced over at her. Next he turned his attention to the small redhead that was now nervously looking over the trio, still desperately clutching his bear. Gaara looked so dejected; Naruto had noticed it as soon as the Kazekage had spoken to him, the shame and loneliness that emanated from him in the older man's presence. Naruto's eyes hardened at the thought and before their escort could do anything he walked over to Gaara in two strides.

"Hi Gaara." The redhead had been staring at the floor before now but was looking with wide-eyes into Naruto's face. He had still been puzzling out their earlier confrontation, on some level believing that it was all some hallucination or another cruelty brought on him by the creature living inside of him. Naruto smiled, sensing the nervousness of the smaller boy and tried to do everything in his power to ease his troubled mind.

"I think we're going to be friends now." Gaara just kept staring at him with wide, black-rimmed eyes which Naruto had only properly noticed for the first time. He wondered if they were like his whisker marks but filed away the thought for later.

"F-friends?" Naruto nodded cheerfully and after a moment of hesitation Gaara smiled, it was meek and timid but it was an improvement over before. Their escort had been patient up until now but he had been given orders by his Kazekage and he would fulfil them.

"Gaara your father will see you know. As for you two..." He motioned with his hand for Naruto to draw closer and didn't finish his sentence as he firmly placed the same hand on Naruto's shoulder. He still wasn't used to how the world just suddenly blurred but having already experienced it once he could at least prepare himself. In a few seconds he was in a new, completely unfamiliar environment, much to both his and Tayuya's annoyance.

"KANKURO! TEMARI!" Naruto cringed at the unexpected outburst from their otherwise stoic and reserved escort but didn't have time for it as suddenly he heard the rush of feet in their direction. A boy rounded the door first; he was obviously older than Naruto by maybe a year or two. He had hair similar to Gaara's in style but was a dark brown in color. He wore a deep black shirt that seemed many sizes too big for him as it went down to nearly his knees, it was hooded but the cloth was pulled back to rest against his neck right now.

Next to enter the room, at a slightly more sedate pace, was a girl, older than the boy. She had sandy blond hair that was tied up in a long ponytail that swayed behind as she walked. Like the boy she wore clothing that seemed impractically large for her, a white shirt that seemed more like a dress, especially considering she wore nothing below it, tied up with a red sash.

"Yes Baki-sensei?" It was the older girl who spoke, even as she curiously glanced over the two children next to him. The boy beside her was less tactful, openly staring at the two with his eyes narrowed; trying to figure out what was going on.

"I am only here to inform you that these two will be staying here for a while. Temari, the Kazekage has instructed you to show them around before letting them to retire to the rooms nearest Gaara's." The girl that Naruto know knew was called Temari nodded hesitantly while the boy narrowed his eyes further.

"Why?" Baki sent a glare the boy's way but it was completely lost on his otherwise occupied form.

"Because Kankuro, your father has ordered it." The tone was absolute, enough to get Kankuro to turn sullenly and nod apologetically.

"Yes, I'm sorry Baki-sensei." Baki nodded approvingly before sparing one last glance around at the four children. A tired sigh managed to escape his lips as he quickly shunshined away, already expecting what was about to happen. All four children watched the swirl of dust and sand until it dissipated before blue and green eyes met black and dark blue. The tension in the room was palpable to the point where Naruto swore the single bead of sweat rolling down his cheek could actually be heard as it arduously made its way across his skin.

"So..." Temari's attempt to break the silence only increased its awkwardness. Luckily this was one time in Naruto's life that he could honestly say his brash and upfront nature was a help as opposed to a hindrance.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this..." He motioned across at Tayuya, who still had yet to say a word since entering the Kazekage's office "...Is Tayuya." The tension finally broken Temari smirked evilly but didn't say a word, Kankuro had settled back into glaring at the two younger children.

"So Naruto, mind explaining why we're going to be living together for the foreseeable future?" It was said flippantly but there was no hiding the underlying curiosity and ever so slight hostility behind the words. Temari proceeded to show the two around the surprisingly large and roomy mansion that the Kazekage called home as he explained what had happened. He noticed the look of unease that passed over the siblings' faces when he mentioned he was a jinchuuriki but made nothing of it.

Once the tour was over Temari brought the pair to a long corridor of bedrooms before showing Naruto into the one he later found out was next to Gaara's, Tayuya was just across the hall from his. Naruto had found that he liked Temari, she was naturally upbeat much like himself, even if she could be slightly scary at times. He also found out the reason for Kankuro's distrust in that he was extremely protective of his little brother and harboured a natural resentment to people of his age group.

Once he heard the story of how Naruto had met Gaara that distrust started to slip but he was still a bit distant out of habit. Even so Kankuro awed him slightly when he broke off from the group only to return slightly later with a large wooden puppet. He had tinkered with it the entire time they walked and Temari had grown increasingly frustrated with his one word replies to her questions. Naruto quickly figured that this was a recurring argument and he envied them for having that sibling relationship.

The tour ended there and Temari left the young boy to his own devices as she escorted a still nervous-looking Tayuya out and across the hall to her own room. Kankuro stayed behind, watching the two girls leave as well before turning to Naruto and giving him an appraising look.

"If you're living here I expect Father will have you trained as a shinobi." Naruto was a little shocked, apart from his outburst in front of Baki this was the first thing he had actually said to Naruto. "If I know my father he won't waste any time. Get a good night's sleep and be up early tomorrow..." he started walking out of the room but called back over his shoulder "...because it's the last chance you'll get for a few years." Naruto could practically feel the smirk that radiated off of the boy as he left and he fought back one of his own.

Turning, Naruto made his own appraisal of the room, it was incredible. This one room alone was the size of his apartment back in Konoha and that wasn't even counting the en-suite bathroom that he could see from here. The majority of one corner was taken up by a large bed with beige sheets and darker pillows. There was also a large window which gave him a breath-taking view of Sunagakure that immediately reminded him of the view from atop the Hokage monument, even if the landscape itself was drastically different.

After just looking out at the place he was going to be calling home from now on Naruto released a contented sigh along with a warm smile. Quickly it developed into a mischievous grin as he ran and launched himself onto the bed, reveling in the feeling as the non-rusty springs launched him back into the air. He landed in a laughing heap, snuggling closer into the soft mattress and grabbing a pillow to hold like Gaara did his bear.

Before he hadn't felt all that tired but a yawn broke past his lips; he shrugged. Obviously the tour had taken longer than he thought although he wasn't surprised considering the sheer size of the building.

"_So what do you think Kyuubi?" _He heard a chuckle from his mind.

"_**I think that I was right." **_She chuckled again as she felt his quizzical look shot introspectively at her. _**"I was right to tell you to leave the village don't you think?" **_Naruto nodded slowly.

"_Yeah, I guess you were but I was actually talking about Gaara. Do you think we can help him?" _Kyuubi growled lightly.

"_**The jinchuuriki of Shukaku, so disdainful" **_Sensing the hostility form Naruto she sighed, he was far too helpful for his own good. _**"My answer though is yes we should be able to help him. I'll slap some sense into that Tanuki. Just don't expect immediate results as this might take time." **_She sighed again but it seemed to be for more personal reasons. _**"Honestly I think I should have done something about his damnable bloodlust before now; Father would be so ashamed."**_

Before Naruto had time to question her he heard his door open and a familiar scent enter his room. He smiled as he sat up, looking at Tayuya who just stared at him awkwardly before walking up and climbing under the covers with him. He looked at her questioningly and she just stared back, willing him to say anything before her shoulders drooped slightly.

"It's fucking cold in this house." She would be damned to admit that it was because she had grown used to his presence curled up next to her as she slept. Just as she would be damned to say that this whole experience left her feeling vulnerable and meek and that he was the only familiar thing she had to hold onto right now. Naruto said nothing, just as content to let his arm fall into its usual position around Tayuya's waist, by now she thought nothing of it.

"What have you gotten us into...?" she yawned but didn't let that stop her finishing her sentence "...Shithead" She sighed as she said it, her eyelids drooping wearily before they closed and she was out like a light. Naruto smiled, equally tired, and allowed the soft bed and her equally soft body lull him to sleep, for once forgoing his usual lesson. His dreams were filled with thoughts of the future, what life in Suna would bring to him; now that he had friends.


	10. Chapter 10

Gaara walked into the large bedroom, amused by what he saw. Naruto sat on his bed with his legs crossed and was ferociously trying to file down his fingernails. Although to call them that wouldn't do them justice; in actuality they were more like claws, vicious white claws that no matter what Naruto did, refused to be broken or filed down. Naruto had a look of utmost concentration as he swiped what must have been a carpenter's metal file over the tough appendages.

Gaara watched on as the file became a blur as Naruto moved it faster and faster, harder and harder against his impossibly tough nails. Finally he stopped, grinning down at his hand as a small cloud of dust floated away from where metal had met claw. The grin immediately turned into a frustrated frown when he saw that his efforts were in vain; all he got for his troubled was a deep gash running along the centre of the file. The file was the one being eroded away, not the claw. With an irritated grunt he chucked the file into a small pile of its likewise damaged counterparts that had accumulated behind him.

"Why do you even bother anymore?" Naruto looked up in shock at the gravelly voice that had interrupted his peace. He had been so wrapped up in his task that even his advanced senses had missed Gaara's entry into the room. It did help that the two boys were nigh inseparable so Naruto nearly always had his scent nearby. He looked up at the boy who had become one of his closest friends in the seven years they had lived together and grown closer.

Seven years had done a lot for the Suna redhead; he was no longer the timid and shy little boy that Naruto had first known him as. Far from it, he had grown into a confident and intelligent teenager. It was only a shame that the physical changes were less pronounced; Gaara was always small for his age, mostly due to his premature birth. His skin was also unnaturally pale for somebody who lived in a desert, although that was for entirely different reasons.

He wore simple black shinobi pants with an equally dark black shirt with a fishnet vest underneath that just inched out past the short sleeves. Over the top he had a white sash that crossed over one shoulder which also acted as the holder for his enormous gourd which was almost as inseparable to him as Naruto. He smiled as he thought of all the times when they were young and had tried to find a better way of carrying around all of the chakra-infused sand that Gaara used, and failed. It turned out a massive container really was the best way, it was only a plus that the gourd itself was made out of the same sand.

"They get in the way." Naruto shrugged as he said it, standing up from his bed and walking the short distance to stand across from Gaara. He wasn't the only one that the passage of time had managed to change and while hardly tall himself he still managed to stand a few inches above Gaara. His previously stunted growth was more nurture than nature, a result of his poor, or sometimes non-existent, diet. Now that he was eating properly he was more average for his age group.

His spiky blond hair was untamed as it tried, unsuccessfully to fall past his forehead protector and cover his eyes. It did however manage to frame his face with two shaggy bangs that Tayuya had been trying to convince him to cut for a while now, saying it made him seem uncaring. Of course that was exactly how Naruto felt about it; he never did pay much mind to how appeared, except of course when it came to hygiene.

This was also the main reason for his very casual attire consisting of black shinobi pants that stayed unbound around his feet just above his normal black shinobi sandals. Above that he wore a muted orange T-shirt with a large black swirl design and over the top was his comfortable dark-green jacket that stayed unzipped except on mission. Despite his size and age Naruto managed to cast an imposing, yet carefree aura with his wild appearance and casual clothing; not to mention the slitted eyes, fang-like canines and the aforementioned claws.

"Would you like me to create a file for you?" Naruto just shrugged, he had no real problem with the anatomical additions to his form that Kyuubi seemed to enjoy so much. It was just they got in the way of a few simple things that frustrated him daily, he looked behind him at suspect number one that stared blankly back at him.

"Nah, I'll just stick to the normal way." He placed his hands into a seal and quickly channelled Chakra until there was a small burst of white smoke. When it cleared Naruto stood as he had before only his more wild traits were noticeably absent. Kyuubi, true to her word, had made sure that the henge was the very first technique that Naruto learned and it had come in handy ever since. "So I guess you're here because Baki-sensei wants to see us about something?" Gaara nodded, the two might have been best-friends but the redhead still wasn't the talkative type.

The both walked out together and immediately walked into Tayuya who was emerging from her own 'room'. Naruto thought that sarcastically because every night for seven years Tayuya had snuck out of that room and slept in his bed. It wasn't that he minded, quite the contrary, it was just that by now the entire household knew and he was a little tired of the charade. It was Tayuya's stubborn pride that stopped her from just straight moving into his room.

Like the two boys the young red-haired girl had undergone a few more noticeable changes in the near-decade they had all been together. She Stood just under Naruto in height but with a significantly slimmer build that might be described as lithe if it didn't hold the wrong connotations. Gone was the scrawny orphan that Naruto had first been forced into joining all those years. Her hair was longer, now reaching her lower back in an unruly mess that still managed to hold onto some semblance of shape thanks to Temari's intervention.

The red mass was tied back by a jet-black bandana that held her forehead protector, only allowing one stray lock of hair to fall between her eyes down to her nose. She wore black shinobi pants like the two boys but cut to a more feminine fit and shortened to her mid-calf. Also like the two boys she wore the standard black shinobi sandals however unlike them she wore a very light white shirt that was cut at her midriff. It exposed her stomach below her navel; or at least it would have except for the wrappings that wound around her torso.

However those did nothing to hide the two newly protruding lumps that were beginning to show on her chest. She had complained a lot when they first appeared, citing them as nuisances to her training as they always seemed to get in the way. However one day after a talk with Temari that Naruto couldn't quite hear and had left the younger girl quite red she had simply stopped complaining. Naruto was only happy, it made no difference to him how Tayuya looked yet despite him saying this a few times she only shot him evil looks.

As he walked out into the hallway he idly wondered how they felt before his eyes widened and he banished the thought. Where had that come from? The three nodded at one another, no words needing to be said between the three long-time friends as they wound their way through the complex halls of the Kazekage mansion. It was second nature by now, the winding halls each imprinted on their memories irrevocably.

Eventually the trio reached the room where Baki would always meet them for mission updates or to begin their training. As it was he wasn't there yet, unusual as he was normally an extremely prompt individual. He sighed loudly, what kind of inconsiderate sensei was late anyway?

* * *

A few hundred miles away across national borders a masked ninja sneezed loudly, unfortunately for him he was currently jumping through trees at high pace. The unexpected sneeze caught him completely by surprise and ruined his concentration just long enough for him to smack head first into the unyielding bough of a tree. He sat on the leaf-strewn ground rubbing his sore head, wondering where that sneeze came from.

* * *

Naruto shrugged, considering it was their sensei's first offense he decided to let it slide. Instead he moved over to the window and took up his normal position on the window sill with one leg dangling over the side. He reached back into his pouch and pulled out the small orange book that lay inside. With a small lick to his thumb he found the page he was on and started to read. Ever since he had found the 'Land of Fire's number one bestselling series' it had nearly become inseparable from his person.

It wasn't actually the smut he was interested in, there was a genuinely interesting story that his pre-adolescent mind could appreciate thanks to his lack of hormones at the time. He also connected with the main character of the series, also called Naruto, who shared his determined drive and spirit. Of course now that he was on the cusp of puberty those 'other' sections began to draw more notice. Gaara on the other hand rolled his eyes wearily at the sight.

"Must you keep reading that?" Naruto just absent-mindedly nodded, barely paying head to the smaller boy's words. Tayuya on the other hand took a more direct approach, storming up to his position on the window sill angrily.

"What the fuck have I told you about reading that Naruto!" The blond jinchuuriki cringed back from the steaming girl, only offering a small shrug and a frightened expression as answer. Angrily the girl snatched the book out of his hands and shot down any attempt at him taking it back with a murderous glare.

"But Tayuya!" Her eye's hardened and her hand reached dangerously behind her back into the special red leather pouch she kept there. Naruto's eyes widened and he withdrew his hand.

"I told you not to read the fucking book Shithead!" Again Naruto cringed back from the furious words. "I haven't reached this volume and I don't want any spoilers!" Naruto just nodded timidly like a kicked puppy, he wasn't the only one of the trio who had taken a shine to the racy series of books. Gaara sighed loudly and rolled his eyes again, willing their sensei to just show up so he wouldn't have to deal with his slightly perverted teammates so early in the morning.

Luckily for him just that happened and Baki entered the room in an overenthusiastic display of the Shunshin skill, neatly covering the entire room in a layer of dust and sand.

"Baki-sensei what the fuck do you think-" Tayuya was cut off as Baki sprinted across the room, kunai raised and poised to slice into her throat. She barely had enough time to pull out a senbon and counter; the ring of clashing metal immediately drew Naruto out of the book he was reading to stare in bemusement at the scene. Baki was always doing this, attacking the trio whenever he had the opportunity to test their reflexes.

"Good, I would hate to think your foul mouth would get in the way of your reaction times." Tayuya just went the faintest hue of red as Baki straightened up from his combat stance and wiped the remaining dust from his flak jacket. Even their sensei had changed in the past couple years; when Naruto had first met him he was covered nearly head to toe in bandaged from a lightning burn he received when fighting a powerful Kumo-nin. Baki had won but at the cost of a great deal of his skin; nowadays he wore a veil covering the left side of his face where the burn was strongest.

"Well anyway, you're all here so we can begin." Gaara stood from the chair he had been sitting in and Naruto happily jumped down from the window sill. This was how Baki always started their conversations when it concerned a mission; although Tayuya still looked like a dog licking its wounds. "The Kazekage himself has given us an important mission." He gave them some time to let that sink in "Your first S-Rank."

Both Tayuya and Naruto's jaws hit the ground while Gaara maintained his perfect emotionless expression that he had perfected over the years. The only indication he had even heard the shocking revelation was the slight raising of a single eyebrow.

"Awesome, it's about damn time!" Naruto was ecstatic, practically hopping around the room, the only thing stopping him from actually doing so was the memory of what Tayuya had done the last time he had. Tayuya was just as excited although she had a better hold on her emotions and kept it in long enough to let Baki finish.

"Yes, well, like I was saying..." he stressed the last word enough to get Naruto to calm down "... the Kazekage himself has given us this mission so I no doubt won't have to remind of just how important that makes it." The three genin nodded, one a bit too vigorously for Baki's liking. "Very well, then here are your mission dossiers." He handed each one out and Naruto immediately ripped the brown packaging off, his eyes hungrily flicking back and forth across the words concealed inside. Of course as he read his excited grin turned emotionless, followed by a frown, very quickly followed by a look of fury.

"What the hell Baki-sensei? Is this some kind of joke!" His answer was a very stern look that clearly sad that it was no such thing. Naruto knew it was not, Baki was not the type of ninja to joke around with anything, but he still had to be sure. "What does the Kazekage think he's doing? Going to war with the Leaf village? Is he insane?" Baki wearily noticed that Tayuya was nodding along with Naruto's sentiment.

"Naruto, we are Shinobi of the Sand. The Kazekage's word is law and you would do well to remember that!" He tried to put some righteousness into his speech but as he finished he saw that Naruto was already gone, the window open and the curtains billowing in the wake the boy left. He sighed loudly into his hand, his day just kept getting worse, first he's given this very suspicscious mission then Naruto just has to act like, well, Naruto. He couldn't help but share the boy's feelings however, it was incredibly strange, and allying themselves with the Sound village only added to that.

He raised his face from his palm only to see that Tayuya was now gone as well leaving him alone with Gaara who was curiously poking at the book Naruto had left behind in his rush. Baki slammed his head back into his hands; it was going to be a long day; that much he could tell.

* * *

Naruto sped through the village, the short distance from the Kazekage mansion to the council building taking him no time at all. He moved like lightning through all his usual shortcuts through back alleys and over rooftops. He even dived through the living room of a very surprised elderly couple who always left their windows open. He didn't have time to make his usual rushed apology as he spring-boarded off the wall outside the window and spun up onto the adjacent roof.

With a final leap he was into the office-building, racing through the cramped, earthen hallways that he knew almost as well as his home for the past seven years. It was another short distance up a few floors and through the maze of the many council halls and chambers until with a deep breath to somewhat calm himself he walked through the Kazekage's chamber door. The receptionist didn't even try to stop him anymore it had become so routine.

Immediately he knew there was something wrong, the Kazekage was not in this room, yet somebody was sitting in the chair behind his desk and for some reason had his robes and hat on. The intruder looked up, surprised yet keeping an air of calm that seemed overtly practised, he obviously knew how to play his role well. The only way Naruto even knew this wasn't the Kazekage was because he smelt all wrong.

Even Naruto knew that smells and scents could be overridden or submerged but nothing could hide from Naruto, not at this distance. There was nothing of the Kazekage about this imposter, instead he smelt of blood, deep tunnels, dampness and snakes. Naruto eyed the man wearily, wondering what kind of move he was going to make now that he was here. Instead he just looked very calmly towards what he perceived as an intruder.

"Yes Naruto, what is it now?" So the man knew his name; that was even more worrying, it meant he had done his research. He smirked, obviously not enough to know how heightened his senses were; not that many people knew that titbit.

"Who are you?" There was steel in Naruto's voice which the imposter only seemed amused at.

"Whatever are you talking about Naruto?" Naruto could hear the amusement in his voice but he didn't even realise he was only affirming Naruto's suspicions. He was a good actor but he spoke nothing like the Kazekage, even if he somehow had his voice. The man reached up and Naruto immediately tensed but all he did was remove his hat. Naruto was shocked, behind the hat was... the Kazekage, or at least his face anyway.

"Kai!" Naruto immediately tried to dispel any Genjutsu in the room but nothing happened. The imposter maintained his amused expression but anybody could clearly see his patience was beginning to wear. At that moment an ANBU operative dropped down from the ceiling, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto what are you doing?" Naruto turned to the specialist, with a cold gaze.

"This man is not the Kazekage, he smells of blood and snakes." The operative immediately turned to the man in question. Every member of the ANBU was privy to the knowledge about Naruto's remarkable nose; even the Kazekage himself had praised its use on countless missions. They also knew that it was never wrong, ever.

"Who are you?" Even as he said it four more ANBU dropped from the darkness of the ceiling and took up combat positions, all in the direction of the imposter Kazekage. The man sneered in annoyance, standing up, everybody in the room tensing.

"You would trust this mere genin over your own Kazekage!" The first ANBU's eyes narrowed, it didn't take someone with perceptive hearing to know that was not how the Kazekage acted.

"Sir I need authorisation. Your code now or we will be forced to engage." It was a fleeting hope; everybody could already tell that this man had no such intention of complying. And to prove them right he smiled an evil grin that looked eerily snake-like before leaping back out of the window with inhuman speed, immediately followed by the ANBU who now fully understood the situation. The Kazekage was dead; this man had taken his place and had tried to get them to initiate war on the Leaf.

Anger shot through Naruto's being and he felt a familiar burning sensation spread out from his core. It was only halted as he felt a firm hand on his shoulder; he turned to see Baki had finally caught up with him. The alien chakra retreated, leaving Naruto slightly hollow and empty inside; he felt limp, wanting to throw up. The evil smell of the imposter lingered in the room, filing his nose with death and decay.

"You don't need to follow them Naruto, the ANBU will do their job protecting lord Kazekage, even after death. Even if they cannot then what makes you believe you can take on a man who could defeat the late Kazekage?" Naruto slumped slightly, knowing it was true but he hated being this helpless. He may not have liked the Kazekage a great deal from the way he treated his children, and not just Gaara, but he still didn't deserve murder.

He nodded wearily before being led out of the office, the smell somehow lingering in his nose still. They walked through the sand village, student and pupil not saying a word to one another. News spread like wildfire in this village and only ten minutes after they had left the office news had already spread that the Kazekage had been murdered and his killer had escaped. A sinking feeling came over Naruto, knowing that they were walking back to his home, where three people would have yet to hear the news.

* * *

They hurried through the forest in silence, awkward oppressive silence that threatened to drive Naruto insane if it carried on any longer. He raised a hand to tell his two companions to stop and they pulled over into a nearby clearing. Immediately Tayuya rushed over to see what the matter was while Gaara approached in a much more sedate manner. Naruto watched his surrogate brother with sadness, even through his emotionless shell he could sense the sorrow emanating out from the sand-wielder.

"We can stop and rest here for a bit, we're already well ahead of Temari's team." Tayuya seemed ready to argue but when Naruto motioned with his head over to Gaara she stopped, biting back her words. She nodded wearily and went to fill up their canteens from the nearby stream while Naruto approached Gaara. He stood in the clearing, not quite sure what to do with himself and Naruto felt a twinge in his heart.

There was a lack of purpose there; one that Naruto knew all too well from when he was younger. A lack of purpose that he had shared until he met Tayuya and later Gaara, they had filed that hole with a need to defend those precious to him. It was something that had never occurred to him before, having nobody in his life that was worth protecting, nobody that cared about him enough for him to care about them. That had all changed with him leaving the village and now it was his turn to return the favour.

"Hey Gaara, wanna spar for a bit while we wait for your brother and sister to catch up?" The boy shrugged and immediately Naruto felt another twinge, Gaara almost never passed up an opportunity to spar with him. He cursed the council for their decision to go ahead with sending them to the Chuunin exams. He understood it of course, it would seem highly suspicious for Suna to suddenly pull out, not a week from the exams, even with the murder of their Kazekage.

It still didn't mean he liked it, Gaara needed familiarity right now, to stay at home and have time to grieve. What he certainly didn't need was to be thrown into some kind of contest of violence and espionage for some meaningless title. The three of them together had already completed over five A-ranked missions, if that didn't make them Chuunin then what did? Most of all he cursed the man he had found out to be called Orochimaru; he didn't have a lot of time to research him, all he got was that he was one of the Sannin and a rogue ninja from the Leaf.

It was all_ his_ fault, that Gaara's father had died, that they were going to these exams, that Suna now lacked its leader. The only consolation they had was the pay they were receiving from their slightly altered S-ranked mission. The council believed that Orochimaru might still go ahead with his previous invasion plan, with or without Suna. Their job was now to provide whatever aid they could to Konoha if that were to happen. He grimaced coldly, the Sand just wanted to cover their own asses and reaffirm their allegiance with the Leaf.

Seeing Gaara's reluctance Naruto gave up, he wanted to help his friend still but he would find another way. A mischievous twinkle ignited in his eye that even the sadness that had surrounded hem recently couldn't extinguish. He crept over to Gaara, one eye on Tayuya the entire time and whispered devilishly into his ear. The sand-user manage to stay impassive but Naruto could easily see the old Gaara begin to leak back out as he explained his plan.

A few moments later he was next to Tayuya, watching as she filled up the last of their canteens and placed it neatly to the side of the stream. She stood and turned around in one motion, nearly jumping out of her skin as she saw just how close Naruto was to her. Their faces were only inched apart and she could feel the breath from his nose on her cheek. Naruto faltered for a moment, the plan was in his mind but the sheer proximity between the two suddenly made him nervous for a reason he couldn't quite understand.

Tayuya's cheeks gained the slightest tinge of red, another thing that confused Naruto, she only did that when very angry or really embarrassed. Naruto thought in a split second as the two just stood there, she couldn't have been embarrassed right? They had definitely been this close before. With a start he realised, or at least thought, that meant she was angry so before she could punch him he grinned wildly and gave her the lightest of nudges.

Not expecting the sudden push Tayuya's eyes widened as she was put off balance and tumbled back. Her arms wind-milled crazily as she tried to right herself but the softened earth under her feet wasn't having it. She fell backwards with her eyes closed tight, awaiting the splash and the freezing water below her, only for an arm to reach out and securely grip her own. She opened an eye to see Naruto still grinning, firmly gripped her arm and reaching out with his other.

She narrowed her eyes at him, promising with a single look that he was going to pay for this. She reached out with her other arm for Naruto's free hand but as soon as her fingers brushed his he suddenly and unexpectedly released his grip on her other arm. Once again she fell backwards, flailing her arms madly as she tumbled over the edge of the river bank. She again closed her eyes again and expectantly embraced for the freezing water only to be saved again, this time by a blanket of silky soft sand.

She cracked an eye open and looked at Gaara, nodding to him with a thankful expression before getting up, standing on the floating cloud of sand. She stared daggers at Naruto, a glare that could have made most men instinctively reach for their most precious anatomical area. Naruto on the other hand maintained his cocky grin as Tayuya began walking across the sand towards him, hands clenched into fists.

"Naruto I'm gonna shove a fucking kunai so far up your shitter that you'll cough up senbons!" Unfortunately Tayuya only realised her mistake when Naruto shot an amused glance at Gaara. Immediately the sand under Tayuya's feet dissipated before she could jump to safety. Without anything to catch her this time, Tayuya dropped straight into the icy waters beneath her, letting out an all too girly shriek as the chill invaded her clothes.

Naruto shared a good laugh with Gaara as he cheerfully walked across to the soaked girl, casually walking across the surface of the water and extending a hand. She glared up at him from her position half in the water before an evil smirk of her own graced her features. Naruto saw this and tried to react but before he could Tayuya had taken the offered hand and sent a pulse of Chakra through Naruto's system, immediately disrupting his concentration.

For a split second Naruto sent too much Chakra to his feet, unfortunately for him a split second was all it took and he was sent rocketing into the air as he repelled the water. Tayuya snorted out in laughter as the flailing boy came crashing back down to earth and splashed into the freezing water. She walked over this time and offered the hand; she only took advantage of Naruto's trusting nature once, dropping him back into the water when she picked him up a little.

This was how Temari, Kankuro and their teammate Masa found them, sitting around a fire as the two soaked Shinobi dried off. They noticed immediately that the faintest of smiles was alighting itself on Gaara's lips as he shared a laugh with his oldest friends. This sight alone was enough to get the two older Suna shinobi smiling; they had taken their father's death hard and it warmed them to see that Gaara was still able to smile.

* * *

A few minutes later and the six ninja were racing through the trees, Tayuya and Naruto were dried off enough and they decided not to wait any longer. There was no warning, the tree's didn't get any less thick, in face the only indication they were heading in the right direction at all was Naruto's nose but sure enough the tree line dropped out from under them and they found themselves in front of a pair of impressive gates. They were currently open to allow the throng of people into an out of the village.

The familiar sight sent a wave of melancholy through Naruto as he remembered these were the very gates that he had escaped from the village through. The group approached the gate guards in their small kiosk-like hut and signed all the appropriate papers about them entering for the Chuunin exams. One of the guards, a man with spiky purple hair and a small clean-shaven beard with a linen bandage across his nose looked at Naruto curiously. The boy tried to ignore it as he walked away but he still felt the gate guard's eyes bore a hole in his back.

"What the fuck was that guy's problem? He was looking at you like the Shinigami incarnate" Tayuya had sidled over to where Naruto was walking and he just shrugged in response. She eyed him curiously, Naruto was still a notoriously bad liar, at least to her and Gaara, and he was as transparent as a wall was to a Byakugan user. "Naruto, what have I told you about lying to me?" There was a cold edge to her voice but there was no hiding the underlying concern.

"I'm worried that people might recognise me Tayuya. It's only been seven years." She nodded understandingly.

"Yeah you might be right, but don't worry. It's not like somebody's just going to see you and shout out your name like a fucking-"

"NARUTO?!"


	11. Chapter 11

Naruto spun at the oddly familiar voice, coming across a group of four Leaf shinobi, all now looking at him expectantly. There was the obvious sensei of the group, a tall raven-haired woman with piercing red eyes wrapped up in the strangest dress Naruto had ever seen. It looked like it was made from rolls of paper with strange patterns down the centre of each strip. It was sleeveless on one side and on the other there was a bright red sleeve, almost the same colour as her eyes. From the impracticality of her clothing Naruto would have guessed she was mainly a genjutsu type.

To her right were two boys. The first was also familiar, a tall boy with unruly brown hair and slitted eyes like Naruto except his lacked irises. The most discerning features were his triangular clan markings that adorned each cheek, as well as the small white puppy that rested on top of his head. He wore a fairly plain grey jacket with dark grey fur lining that was almost as shaggy as his hair. The only thing that Naruto could glean from his appearance was that he was naturally impatient, due to the way he irritably stood looking around.

The other boy was what Naruto would describe as the epitome of average. His straight but wavy brown hair hung limply around his head, just held back by his headband. He wore a dull grey shirt with a navy jacket slung over the top and black shinobi pants. His hands were bound with tape which at least told Naruto he liked to get in close with his fists, or that he trained a lot, most likely both. There was nothing else note worthy about him so Naruto moved on to the last of the group.

No amount of time could have made her any less recognisable to Naruto; after all she was the last face he had seen before leaving behind his life in the Leaf Village. She wore dark blue pants cut off at the mid-calf much like Tayuya's were. She wore a cream coloured jacket with a white fur trim opened down the middle to reveal a navy shirt. Her hair was shiny and straight in a short hime-cut with two chin length bangs framing her face. It was her pale, pupil-less eyes that stood out the most, giving her features an almost angelic look.

"Hinata?" Naruto wasn't sure whether to be shocked or happy at seeing her, they hadn't exactly parted well although he didn't think it was on bad terms. He noticed the Leaf headband around her neck and smiled as she quickly walked over.

"Naruto it is you!" She rushed over and hugged him tightly, much to everybody in the vicinity's surprise. Tayuya especially was eying the newcomer with barely concealed suspicion and just the slightest hints of anger. Finally Hinata parted from the hug, slightly red above the nose but so was Naruto. He wasn't used to such open displays of affection, never mind with him and a girl he barely knew.

"Naruto I can't believe you're back!" The wild-looking boy from her team walked over at this point, eyeing Naruto curiously, as well as his teammates. He especially seemed transfixed with Naruto's headband which proudly displayed the kanji for 'nine' on his forehead. Tayuya's was left blank as she never felt any real affiliation with the Sand Village, or at least that was what she told Naruto. Gaara's on the other hand was the symbol for Sunagakure, as it was on the team of three older ninja behind them.

"Hey Hinata, how do you know a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Sand?" Hinata didn't take her eye off of Naruto as she replied.

"He isn't, he used to live here in Konoha but he left when we were seven." Naruto frowned briefly when the girl said 'we' but brushed it off as Kiba once again took to examining him. He looked a bit more defensive now and Naruto could tell from the way his muscles tensed he was ready to react to a fight.

"So he's a missing-nin?" He said it almost with a growl and Naruto took over the conversation from this point, not exactly comfortable with Hinata telling everybody this information.

"No, I left while we were in the academy so I wasn't a ninja yet. I was just a civilian moving on." Kiba seemed to relax a little bit but still had that annoying curiosity in his eyes.

"Why would you leave though?" Now that he really thought hard about it he vaguely remembered a kid with similar blond spiky hair from his early academy days. Then one day he just stopped turning up. Hardly anybody even noticed, the kid didn't have any real friends and the only time people would even acknowledge his existence was when he performed some outlandish prank. Naruto's eyes turned dark as he stared back at the feral-looking boy.

"I had my reasons." Tayuya finally decided to inject herself into the conversation and rounded on the two Leaf shinobi in her own unique way.

"And it's none of your fucking concern mutt." Kiba looked a little irritated but shrugged, his curiosity somewhat placated. This time Tayuya turned to the violet-haired girl who had initiated this whole conversation. "And what about you princess? Where do you get off announcing Naruto's fucking presence to the whole goddamn village?" For his part Naruto just sighed loudly; just like he feared, taking Tayuya out of the comfort of the Sand Village had immediately raised all the defences he had worked for so many years to bring down.

"It's alright Tayuya, she didn't know" She looked at him questioningly, Naruto always took her side in a conversation yet this time he had taken a more neutral position. It annoyed her greatly, they were supposed to be best friends yet he was defending this girl that might as well have told the Hokage himself that Naruto was here. "Hi Hinata, long time no see huh?" The previously timid girl nodded, now a little weary of the fiery redhead to Naruto's left.

"So you're here for the Chuunin exams then?" Naruto nodded and she smiled hesitantly. "Us too, we were just going out to train actually when I saw you." He nodded again.

"Listen Hinata, as much as I enjoy catching up we do have to go on and register." The girl nodded hurriedly.

"O-Oh I know sorry, I just saw you and didn't want to miss the opportunity to thank you." He just looked at her quizzically, unsure of what to make of that.

"Huh?" That was the extent of the cultured vocabulary he could muster.

"Before you left I was shy and timid and I never really put much effort into my training. Then after the conversation I had I blamed myself for you leaving. I started to work harder, put more into everything and I even stopped stuttering." Naruto grinned broadly at that, he had always thought Hinata a little weird for the way she acted, to hear that he had helped her get over that, even unwittingly, was warming.

"Hinata it wasn't your fault I left." She just smiled, some red entering her cheeks.

"I know that, but I was young and I guess I had a small crush on you back then." Now that was a revelation for Naruto, back then he wouldn't have believed that anybody could like him, especially not in that way. Before he could mutter something that he was sure would have been just as cultured as his last response to something unexpected the team leader of Hinata's group ushered them on, now intent to get to training.

"Well I'll see you at the Chuunin exams Naruto." She smiled happily as she left while Tayuya to his side just scowled and Gaara remained emotionless.

"What the fuck was that about?" Naruto shrugged helplessly, just as stumped by that strange occurrence as she was.

"Like you said Naruto, we do need to go to the chuunin registry." Gaara, always the voice of reason in their group finally waded into the conversation, having been highly amused by the proceedings so far. Naruto nodded, still a little absent minded after the odd encounter but his wits were slowly returning. The six Sand shinobi wandered through the village, taking in the sights although Naruto quickly found that barely anything had changed in his time away. The village was as familiar to him as it had been on the day he left.

Every time Naruto passed through somewhere familiar his discomfort increased, as he received flashbacks of villagers beating him. They passed an alley and he saw his six year old self being pinned down by large men while their friend cut horrible words into his skin. They passed the school and he saw himself sitting on a swing, watching the other children run around and have fun. They passed the park and he only saw the parents look at him coldly, warning their precious children away from the 'monster'.

"Hey, are you going to be okay?" Tayuya had noticed his barely concealed pain as they meandered through the village. He offered a weak smile for her concern and nodded.

"Yeah, just some bad memories." She nodded solemnly, sure that if they ever had to go to Earth Country she would be feeling the same way. She was a little surprised at herself when she subconsciously took Naruto's hand in her own and gently squeezed it. Some of his old self flooded back into him and his smile grew as he looked at her.

"Thanks Tayuya-chan" She narrowed her eyes for a moment but decided to let the suffix slide this once, he was having a hard time and she didn't need to add to that. Other than noticing Naruto's obvious pain at coming home to his birth village Tayuya's focus was fixated on one other thing. She couldn't help but stare at the enormous mountain that held the Hokage monument. The four faces of the Hokage's stared back at her, unmoving in their rocky visages. It was an impressive sight to behold, going beyond Suna's imposing entrance in its sheer awe-factor.

Suddenly Tayuya and Naruto felt a wave of déjà-vu wash over them as three ANBU dropped down around the group of six and one immediately walked over to Naruto.

"We have been ordered to bring you to the Hokage immediately." Naruto just gulped at their arrival, he had smelt shinobi nearby of course but being in a ninja village that was hardly worth mentioning. Tayuya just glared at him in a look that said 'how does this keep happening to us'. Naruto just nodded and made a move to go with them however when Gaara and Tayuya did the same they were stopped by the other two ANBU.

"Our orders are for Naruto Uzumaki only." He just stared at the man defiantly.

"Where I go, my friends go too." The ANBU looked at each other and the one with spiky brown hair just shrugged.

"Fine but they must remain outside of the Hokage's office." Gaara nodded while Tayuya still looked unhappy, Naruto just smiled.

"It's okay Tayuya, I'll be fine, believe it!" Tayuya didn't know whether to smile at his infectious enthusiasm or smack him upside the head for using that annoying phrase again. She did both.

* * *

Naruto rubbed his head painfully as he exited the shunshin with the ANBU escort, once again finding himself overcome with déjà-vu as he looked around the office. It was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, it hadn't changed much from the few times he had been in here as a child, still cluttered with countless oddities and books that littered the room. What especially hadn't changed was the old man sitting behind the sturdy oak desk that looked back at him.

Naruto wasn't sure what to do or say as he looked across at the one man who had cared about him in his youth. He wasn't sure whether or not to be happy or frightened, he may have been the old man back then but he was still the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. Sarutobi seemed to answer this for him as the old man got up from his comfortable chair and walked over to the smaller boy. There was a moment of hesitancy before with a motion of a hand he dismissed all the ANBU in the room.

"Naruto," The tone was warm but he was still so uncertain of everything. He just remained stock still, staring at the very first caring person he had ever known. He flinched back when the old man dropped to one knee and looked Naruto directly in the face before smiling warmly and pulling Naruto into a tight embrace that left the young boy speechless. Suddenly he couldn't help it and tears broke through his defences, spilling down his cheeks as he returned the hug and wrapped his hands around the Hokage's shoulders. Sarutobi finally disengaged from the embrace and looked at Naruto, his own eyes slightly watery.

"You've grown so much." Naruto sniffled a little as he pulled back the last of his tears, not wanting to look so emotional in front of the Hokage.

"I missed you old man." Hiruzen smiled across at the boy, no matter how much the affectionate name may have annoyed him back then he missed it nonetheless.

"I missed you too." Naruto had to visibly fight more tears from escaping as he heard that. He didn't think anybody would have cared at his departure, finding out that even one had he was overcome with emotion.

"I'm sorry for leaving." Sarutobi looked at the boy before him with a bemused expression.

"Don't come back after so long Naruto and let one of the first things you say to me be a lie." Naruto nodded tiredly, he should have known the perceptive old man would have seen right through him. "Don't worry about it Naruto." he looked pensively away from the blond boy for a moment "I understand why you left. It should be me apologising to you for how you got treated."

"You're right, I wasn't sorry." Naruto's smile brightened a bit as he thought of his life after leaving the village "I made friends that I wouldn't trade for the world." The Hokage smiled knowingly at him.

"Yes, the Kazekage's son if I'm not mistaken, although I only know the name of the girl and not much else." Naruto smiled broadly but also had a questioning look in his eye at how Sarutobi knew this. He laughed merrily, catching onto the confused look. "Really Naruto, did you expect me to just let you run away without finding out what happened to you?" Naruto just smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"I've kept close tabs on you since then, watching your progress and development." He smiled warmly at the worried look on Naruto's face. "I'm very proud of you Naruto" '_As would your parents be' _He finished in his head. Naruto beamed happily at this and the two began to recollect together. Naruto told him of many of the adventures he had shared with Gaara and Tayuya while Hiruzen happily listened to how his life had been. He was more than happy to hear that his life had been happy since leaving the village and reaffirmed his belief that taking him back would have been a mistake.

"I'm happy to hear all of this Naruto and I expect you to do well at the Chuunin Exams. Now I think we've been talking for a bit too long, your friends might be getting worried." Naruto nodded, looking at the clock on the wall for the first time since entering the office.

"Do you want to meet them?" Naruto look expectant, happily so to Sarutobi's keen eyes and he laughed exasperatedly.

"Yes I think that would be nice. I would like to meet anybody that would make your life enjoyable." Naruto grinned broadly, reminding Hiruzen of how the boy used to be, even if it was all an act back then.

"Great! Gaara's a bit shy but he's really great when you get to know him and Tayuya is... well, she's..." Naruto furrowed his brow trying to find the appropriate word to sum up his very first and best friend. "She's amazing" he nodded cheerfully, the word felt about right even if it couldn't adequately do Tayuya justice. Hiruzen just looked amused at the word choice, wondering about the red-haired girl a bit more.

The Hokage motioned with his hand again and the personal ANBU that never left his side dropped down to admit the two Sand-Genin into the room. Tayuya entered nervously while Gaara remained his usual impassive self and walked in as calmly as one would a shop to browse their goods. It helped that his own father was/had been a Kage and was used to dealing with the powerful auras they gave off. Immediately Hiruzen nodded solemnly to the young sand-wielder.

"Gaara no Subaku, I was sorry to hear of your father's murder. My condolences to you and your siblings." Gaara gave curt nod, thankful for the sentiment as he stood over to one side, unsure of why he was even in here. "Naruto her has told me a bit about both of you and firstly I would like to give my deepest thanks." He chuckled upon seeing their confused expressions; even Gaara had raised his brow at the admission.

"Naruto had a hard life in my village" He strained the word 'hard' but moved on "It brings me great happiness to see that all changed when he left, and from what he has told me it is mainly thanks to you two." He extended his arm to Tayuya who nervously took it before he moved onto Gaara. However when he extended the hand this time he was shocked but not surprised when sand shot out of the gourd on his back to intercept the contact.

"Ah, so it is true." Gaara nodded, knowing that the Hokage would know of his status as Jinchuuriki. "I look forward to seeing our participation in the Chuunin Exams, until then-" Sarutobi was interrupted as the door to his office burst open and a very irate woman rushed in, anger and irritation in her eyes.

"Hokage-sama what is this I hear about Narut-" She stopped mid-sentence as she looked around and saw Naruto, giving him time to study her. She was of an average height for a woman of her age, somewhere in her late thirties if he had to guess. She had very wild untameable brunette hair that flamed out around her like a lion's mane. She shared the same red triangular markings on her cheek as the boy he had met earlier in Hinata's squad. Like him she shared the same iris-lacking slitted eyes and feral appearance but with her purple lipstick she was decidedly more feminine.

She wore a standard jonin outfit that was a common sight in Konoha with the usual flak jacket. Underneath she had pants and a shirt that were brown and green respectively giving her the look of somebody who enjoyed the outdoors, or at least camouflaging themselves in it. She was looking at Naruto with shock evident on her face; something that he could clearly see wasn't a common occurrence just from the way she acted.

"My god he looks just like-" She was quickly cut off from voicing any more of that sentence as the Hokage shot her a particularly dangerous look.

"Well it was very good seeing you Naruto and meeting you both Tayuya, Gaara" he nodded in each of their directions as he said their name." Perhaps now you should go and sign in for the exams.

"Wait!" It was the newcomer who spoke and it was directed straight at Naruto, despite another look from the Hokage which didn't look all that friendly. "Naruto do you have anywhere to stay during the proceedings of the Chuunin Exam?" He just eyed her curiously but nodded slowly.

"Well they provide accommodation here don't they?" The woman smiled in a feral manner that to anybody else would have seemed frightening but to Naruto, who had seen the most feral look one can see behind the gates of his internal prison, it didn't have much effect.

"Nonsense, I would be more than happy if you spent the duration of your stay for the Chuunin Exams in the Inuzuka clan compound. It's much more comfortable than those huts they provide for the participants anyway." Naruto just gazed at her, still trying to figure out the underlying motive for such a seemingly generous offer.

"Uhh thanks I guess?" The older woman nodded cheerfully, still maintaining that grin she wore.

"You can call me Tsume." she looked around, seemingly noticing his two teammates for the very first time. "Oh and your friends are welcome to stay as well." She seemed to fixate on Tayuya almost as much as she had when she first spotted Naruto and it sort of freaked the younger girl out. Naruto and his team were finally ushered out by the ANBU in the room while Tsume looked at the Hokage victoriously who, for his part, sighed wearily into his palm.

"Was that really necessary Tsume?" The woman turned to glare daggers at the older man.

"Damn right it was! I was stopped from adopting him so you aren't taking this away from me." Hiruzen just sighed.

"I couldn't if I wanted to. He's a genin now, one not even of this village. I don't have control of him in that way. Anyway you knew the reason why you couldn't adopt him." Tsume snarled.

"Oh yes because you _'couldn't give possession of the nine-tails jinchuuriki to any one clan.'" _She sneered as she said it, her distain obvious. "He was a baby Lord Hokage and you let him grow up hated and feared, unloved by anybody. I couldn't even get Kiba to befriend him because of the way the other's acted around him!" Sarutobi didn't deny her accusations; he actually hung his head a little.

"Don't you think I regret that Tsume? I was so worried when he ran away, who knows what could have happened to him." He looked up, passion in his eyes now "I was just lucky that it was the best thing that could have happened to him." He smiled warmly "You should have heard him Tsume, he spoke with such happiness when he talked about his friends. Kushina would have been so proud." A small tear came to Tsume's eye at the mention of her friend before she cleared it with the back of her hand.

"Speaking of the red hot habanera" She smiled fondly at the nickname she had given one f her closest friends "Did that girl he was with-" Hiruzen held up a hand to cut her off.

"Yes, it would seem Minato's blood does run deep." They both shared a chuckle at the thought, both reminiscing fondly about their friends.

* * *

Once they were all signed up for the Exams the three took some time to wander around the village. They approached the Inuzuka compound but opted against going in just yet, instead deciding that they would explore the village that Naruto had once called home. The two non-Fire Country natives were just curious about how the other village was different to the Sand while Naruto wanted to see what had changed. They enjoyed walking around the village, comparing everything to the Sand.

Tayuya idly remembered the description Naruto had given her all those years ago whilst hiding from a sandstorm and she had to agree with his assessment. Walking down a new street really was like walking into a new country; everywhere was just so individual, so unique. It really was different from her home for the last seven years, yet they shared the same life and vibrancy that made the hidden villages so special. Suddenly Naruto looked around, as if just noticing that the sun was setting and his face broke into a wide grin.

"I have to show you guys something!" Without any more warning than that the excitable blond took off down the street and left without any other options his teammates sprinted after him. The wound though unfamiliar streets trying to keep up with the tenacious jinchuuriki who still remembered this route after so long. Finally they caught up to him just as his foot was beginning up a flight of stairs literally carved into the great mountain behind the village.

"Naruto where the fuck are you going? It's getting late!" Naruto turned even as he was running up the stairs and started climbing them backwards still with the same pace.

"You'll see" He said it with a devilish grin that both annoyed and intrigued Tayuya at the same time. She cursed her heart for fluttering the way it did when he looked at her like that. She despised the strange and alien feeling she was getting recently ever since her body had begun changing. Finally, exhausted and panting from the long climb up the winding stairs they caught up to the spiky-haired boy.

He was sitting on what looked like some kind of stone platform that jutted out over the mountain, giving them all a breathtaking view of Konohagakure. With a start she realised he was sitting on the carved head of the fourth Hokage, a thought that both made her nervous and feel slightly devious at the same time. She walked over and joined him, noticing his pensive look as he stared out over his former home. She remembered him also mentioning that he used to do this in that same conversation in the cave.

"Is it like you remember?" he smiled up at her, a deep genuine smile that made him look like a young child again, not the battle-hardened shinobi he had become.

"Better." She joined him on one side, sitting down and leaning her head against his shoulder in the way she always did when it was just the two or three of them. Gaara also came and joined them; sitting down on Naruto's other side.

"I'm not resting my head on your shoulder, just so you know." The three of them shared a laugh as they just sat there, looking out over the village as the sun set. It set the sky ablaze with brilliant hues of red and orange and for the very first time Tayuya saw how the colour could be so appealing to her friend.

The three of them sat up there in silence for a good amount of time, none of them noticing when minutes turned into hours as they just enjoyed the company of their two best friends respectively. Eventually Gaara stood up, knocking the other two out of their reverie as they noticed just how late it had gotten.

"I'm getting tired and you two know how much I enjoy my sleep." He smirked as he said it, when Naruto and Kyuubi had finally knocked Shukaku around enough to allow Gaara sleep he couldn't thank his friend enough, now he took as many opportunities to do so, even after all this time. As if to second his opinion Tayuya let out a long yawn and stood up as well.

"You two go on ahead, I'll meet up with you in a bit." They nodded, knowing that the blonde just wanted some time alone to reminisce about his old life before coming back. They nodded and Tayuya smirked.

"Don't take too long, I need my bed warmer." He smiled and nodded back and watched as Gaara carried them down the monument on a cloud of his sand or as he liked to call it 'the quick way'. Naruto had smirked when he first heard him call it that, he had his own views on what the 'quick way' was, but kept it to himself.

* * *

He only stayed up there a bit longer, soaking in the sight of the village at night with all the lights from the various house and shops. He gazed up at the sky, smiling fondly at the familiar orange hue that just licked at the edges of the sky from all the unnatural light Konoha produced. He snorted loudly, Hidden village his ass. He stood up and stretched, taking one last look at the village sprawled out beneath him before smiling and jumping straight off of the enormous stone head.

He sailed down, enjoying the pureness of the feeling of wind rushing past his skin. Before he hit the ground he stuck out a hand, ploughing it into a building and leaving four long and deep gashes in the stone. He came to rest on the ground with a small hop before walking back up the wall he used to break his fall. He smiled, knowing that anybody who saw him would have surely called him insane while he just found the experience fun.

The Inuzuka compound was all the way across the village so he had a lot of free time as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He pulled out the small orange book he always had on hand and began to read it as he made his way across the village. He was completely unaware that there was another shinobi doing the exact same thing, Occam's Razor hated being wrong and sure enough the two distracted ninja met with a resounding smack.

The landed in an alley underneath where they had been jumping and Naruto just sat there, rubbing the sot on his head where the Jonin had hit him. He stared at the man in the dim alley, his heightened eyes easily picking out the man's unique features. His hair was a gravity-defying spiky mess of silver that jutted out to one side over his headband. He wore the standard jonin attire of the Leaf with dark blue underclothing.

His face was a mystery due to the equally blue face mask that seemed to always be present on the man's face. However his truly notable feature was the slanted headband that covered the man's eye, an eye that Naruto just so happened to know was a sharingan. He knew this because this wasn't the first time he had seen this particular ninja.


	12. Chapter 12

_Naruto sat up in the highest branch in the tree looking extremely bored as he lazily swung his leg back and forth. He hated reconnaissance missions with a passion, even the A-ranked ones. It was always the same story; they would receive some interesting intelligence about enemy movements of suspicious activities, investigate and find absolutely nothing. They were always sent on some wild goose chase or another._

_The only reason this particular mission was classified as A-rank was due to them observing a shinobi team who were supposed to be their allies. It wasn't like they were actually expecting anything interesting to happen while observing a team on a C-rank mission. However like always Naruto just went with what he was told to do, albeit with no small amount of grumbling and complaining until Tayuya knocked some sense into him._

_He looked around for his team, having difficulty picking them out with his chakra sensing abilities, which was the idea of course. In actuality the only reason he could sniff them out at all was because of his familiarity with them. Gaara was deep underground, monitoring everything via vibrations in the ground that his sand relayed to him in a similar way to his third eye technique. Tayuya was cloaked in a complicated genjutsu that weaved her presence into the natural background Chakra._

_For his part Naruto went with a more simplistic method, suppressing his own chakra to a point where he only had the bare minimum to survive. It had taken him a very long time to master this particular technique due his massive reserves but he had it to the point where only a very talented sensing ninja could detect him. The only problem was that he couldn't move quickly without giving away his position as his body automatically sent chakra to his limbs when he did so._

_So that's how he sat, lazily waiting for the team they were observing while actively surprising his chakra. He smirked as he sniffed the air and smelt the blood of the two chuunin they had accidentally come across while scouting out the route the Leaf shinobi would most likely take. From the bingo book they were the Demon Brothers and Naruto had made sure to keep them alive in order to collect the current ransom Kiri was offering for their capture._

_It was lucky that Naruto had noticed the noxious purple substance dripping off of the nasty shuriken chain the two had strung out between them. Otherwise Tayuya would probably be in some serious trouble; as it was he had been able to grab said chain making use of his inherent poison resistance. The two enemy ninja had been shocked by that long enough to be caught up in Gaara's sand. Last Naruto had seen of them they had been trapped in one of Tayuya's worse genjutsu. She wouldn't tell him the specifics but from the look in her eyes he knew it would be enough to keep them busy for a few days at least._

_He smirked again as he finally caught five unfamiliar scents entering into his sensory range. He alerted the others with a coded signal sent via taps to the trunk of his tree; Gaara would pick up on it and send on the signal to Tayuya. For now their only orders were to observe however being allies they were given permission to intercept any hostiles if the other team was threatened beyond their ability. Of course this was only the case if they were sure it would not give away their primary mission._

_Naruto had first questioned the logic of sending them to spy on their allies but the Kazekage had ensured him that all shinobi villages kept secrets from one another, even allies. So here they were, spying on Leaf shinobi to get an idea of how well their Genin were trained. Naruto had been slightly worried when he had further read the bingo book and found who the Demon Brothers were associated with; Zabuza Momochi was hardly someone to be trifled with._

_Of course that worry dissipated when he saw who the jonin leader of the leaf-team was, an equally recognisable name from the Bingo book. The 'Copy-cat Ninja' of Konohagakure would be more that a match for the 'Demon of the Mist'. He was suddenly made very alert as a sixth foreign signature entered his nose's scope; that wasn't right at all. Ninja teams comprised of three subordinates, their jonin sensei and on escort missions like this, the clients. He once again relayed instructions to the team to be extra careful; the scent of fresh blood had just entered his scope._

_What he witnessed next would be a battle he would remember for a long time; two extremely powerful Jonin going at it, both out for the other's blood. At first it seemed like Momochi had the upper hand when he trapped Kakashi inside of a water prison Jutsu and Naruto was just ready to intervene. However in a surprising display of teamwork the two male genin of the team distracted Zabuza long enough for Kakashi to break out of his deadly technique._

_Finally the fight swung in Konoha's favour as in an impressive display of the Sharingan's abilities Kakashi used Zabuza's own technique against him. Naruto filed away that information for later, as far as he knew there were currently two Sharingan users active, both were high-level Shinobi that were not under any circumstances to be underestimated. He had also noted that throughout the entire conflict the female member of the team, under the guise of 'protecting' the client had done nothing to help her teammates._

_Finally he was astounded as an unknown Kiri hunter-nin appeared, completely to his surprise and apparently to Gaara's as well if his message was anything to go on. Whoever this person was they were amazing at hiding their presence. While this was to be expected of a hunter-nin this person proved that they were not due to their strange behaviour when handling Zabuza's body. From that moment on Naruto kept his guard up, it meant the Zabuza was not dead and now he had an extremely skilled accomplice._

_The next week was once again spent observing the Konoha team as their sensei recovered from his over usage of the sharingan, another fact Naruto filed away for later. The Genin spent their time training and Naruto had nearly fell off of the branch he was in when he found out they hadn't even begun tree-climbing exercises. Granted he had only begun under Kyuubi's instruction but he lacked an actual sensei so he just assumed it was basic ninja knowledge. To find out that wasn't the case cheered him up immensely, now rather proud with his team's abilities._

_If this was the rate they learnt at then they might not even begin learning the Kunai balancing exercise by the time they were ready for chuunin, ready being used loosely. The week passed otherwise uneventfully with the two male members of the team progressing slowly while the previously useless pink-haired girl proved to be almost Tayuya's equal when it came to chakra control. The entire week he had the oddest sense of familiarity when he looked at her but whatever it was kept slipping away from him._

_Mid-week Naruto had a very strange encounter with somebody he immediately knew to be the fake hunter-nin. He once again reaffirmed his beliefs that he was excellent at concealing his location and presence. He had found it odd just how feminine the boy looked and acted and the two had an interesting conversation with Naruto giving no impression that he even knew who the boy was. His answer to the black-haired boy question left him smiling as he walked away, having finished collecting necessary herbs; Naruto was also left smiling._

_It was no mystery to him the grey that surrounded the shinobi profession; most were glorified mercenaries just doing as they were paid. Few were inherently evil, merely carrying out the orders of their superiors who in turn were carrying out the word of their paying clients. It was why Naruto couldn't bring himself to attack the other shinobi, despite their status as pseudo-enemies. If they harboured no ill-intent towards him then he had no reason to get concerned._

_Finally there was some excitement at the end of the week as Kakashi and Zabuza seemed to recover simultaneously and square off on the bridge. Unfortunately this time his accomplice didn't stick to the wings. Instead he engaged the single male genin that was present directly as the kunoichi of the team once again 'protected' Tazuna as Naruto had found he was called. Tayuya was on her sleep rotation so it was just him and Gaara observing the fight and what a fight they witnessed._

_The Uchiha managed to give the accomplice a run for his money as they fought back and forth across the bridge. Eventually he was forced into using his equally impressive Kekkei Genkai to subdue the not-quite Sharingan user. Once Kakashi had seen that his student had failed to beat the impostor hunter-nin he started to fight Zabuza, a fight that equaled their last in displays of skill. Finally Kakashi gained the upper hand and with an odd raiton move Naruto had never seen he moved to finish it._

_Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the viewpoints of the various people present, the accomplice just managed to throw himself in front of the attack, taking Kakashi's lightning-infused hand straight through his heart. Naruto was tempted to go down and intervene but it seemed useless by this point. Zabuza was finished, he had lost the use of both his arms, had a steady stream of blood coming from his mouth and was limping heavily. He quickly lost consciousness from the extreme wear on his body._

_Kakashi wasn't much better off, the combined use of his sharingan and chidori had taken away most of his chakra. That coupled with the few wounds he had received from Zabuza's 'sever sword' left him in a weakened state. He was only able to stay conscious long enough to check that both Sasuke and Sakura were unconscious and not dead before promptly passing out himself. In a strange twist of events, Tazuna was the only one left standing, being left rather shocked at seeing only his second full-scale ninja fight._

_It was of course at that inopportune moment that Gato, the antagonist of this entire confrontation, decided to show up with an army of thugs and opportunistic bandits. He only looked amused by the carnage that his near-destruction of the Land of waves had caused. Naruto by this point was thoroughly frustrated, having no valid reason to intervene as long as the Leaf ninja were not threatened in any way. His claw-like nails were digging into his palm in an effort to stop himself from simply jumping down and decapitating the cocky tycoon._

_Finally a deep, feral grin crossed over his face as Gato ordered his men kill everybody on the bridge, the Leaf shinobi included. In milliseconds Naruto was on the bridge facing down the horde of weapon-wielding men, each itching for a good fight. Seconds later Gaara joined him in a swirl of sand, looking equally annoyed at the small tyrant as Naruto was. Gato considered the two newcomers warily, eyeing up Gaara's forehead protector curiously, wondering how he had attracted the attention of three of the great shinobi villages' attention._

_He shrugged it off and casually ordered his men to carry out their original orders, the eradication of all witnesses. It proved his downfall as he suddenly felt a tightening sensation around his neck; he could only look down far enough to see the thin coil of quickly-hardening sand that was currently wrapped around his pudgy throat. He was slowly lifted high into the air by that same stream of sand, stopping the attacking bandits in their tracks._

_They all stared incredulously at their employer as his life slowly drained out in front of them before staring with a mixture of awe and fear at the source of the sand, namely Gaara. He had his hand raised like he was holding chopsticks, a dispassionate look in his cold, expressionless eyes. With a flick of his wrist Gato's head jerked violently before the sand released him and he dropped lifelessly to the ground; a warning to the approaching men._

_A warning, they unfortunately paid no heed to. The remaining mercenaries were quickly dispatched in a display showing why shinobi were the people to go to for proper jobs. Tazuna was once again forced to watch as men were heartlessly slaughtered, faring no better than if they were unarmed civilians to the two jinchuuriki. He understood it was in his own protection but it didn't make it any less gruesome to watch. Luckily it was quick and before long Naruto and Gaara were throwing their lifeless bodies over the bridge into the reddening waters below._

_Naruto was stopped from this activity by a violent coughing fit somewhere behind him. He turned to see Zabuza had awoken, but was in terrible shape; with a precursory glance Naruto knew he wouldn't make it yet he was still clawing his way across the ground. His massive sword was discarded behind him as he used what little energy was left in his legs to slowly inch his way towards Haku's lifeless body._

_Naruto approached, curious as to this strange behaviour; from what he had gleaned in their short encounter Haku was little more than a tool to Zabuza. The rogue Kiri-nin suddenly looked up at Naruto, coughing out Haku's name and motioning with a silent plea from his eyes towards her body. Knowing this to be the last request of a dying fellow shinobi Naruto complied as best he could. He picked Zabuza's weighty form up by the shoulders and half-carried him over to where his apprentice and surrogate-son lay, a pool of bright red slowly spilling out from his body._

_With his final burst of energy in his body he tore away from Naruto's hold and painfully limped the last few feet to Haku's lifeless form before collapsing once again, uncaring of his apprentice's blood soaking his clothing. He stayed alive just long enough to croak out his true feelings to Haku's deaf ears, wishing the boy he loved a better life in the next one before the life finally left his eyes leaving a melancholic smile forever imprinted on his face._

_Naruto couldn't help but be moved as he watched the emotional display from the otherwise cold, dispassionate man. It reminded him of his fears on how Gaara might have been if Naruto and Tayuya hadn't been there for him. However at the same time it reminded him of the good that existed in everybody, waiting for an opportunity to be released. Unfortunately for some that chance doesn't make itself know until the very end and Haku paid the price for it, never hearing how he was more than just a tool but actually had somebody who cared for him._

_Before the other Ninja could awaken or Tazuna could come out of his shock long enough to question them, Naruto and Gaara quickly fled, the bodies of Zabuza and Haku with them. Naruto also sealed away the man's large sword, sure that if he got the chance he could return it to Kirigakure. Their mission here was complete and after they buried the bodies of Zabuza and Haku side by side they left the Land of the Waves._

* * *

Naruto smirked as he remembered just how mad Tayuya had been after that day, feeling left out from all the fun. Even more so she was curious about the impact the missing-nin and his apprentice had on Naruto. Their lives struck him so deeply as Haku's story was so similar to his own; leaving his villages due to persecution and finding companionship and purpose. He never told anybody this but Naruto had made a vow that day to always strive to protect those closest to him as in Haku's own words _'When a person has something important they want to protect that's when they can become truly strong.'_

Coming out of his dazed recollections he stared at the silvery-haired man across from him who was also rubbing his head in annoyance. Naruto stood up, a decidedly apologetic look on his face as he walked over and offered his hand to the man. He took it instinctively without even looking and allowed Naruto to haul him to his feet. Kakashi finally looked around at his 'assailant' and did a double-take.

"S-sensei?" Naruto, always his coherent and articulate self managed to get out a single word.

"Huh?" Kakashi peered closer for a moment and noticed the boy in front of him was not in fact the man his confused brain had originally mistook him for. "Sorry about that, I guess I was distracted." Kakashi mumbled off a similar apology, never breaking his gaze away from Naruto's face. Started to get slightly weirded out by how the man was acting Naruto backed up a bit. He had to get to the Inuzuka compound before long and didn't have time to stand around talking.

"Well I gotta go, sorry again." Naruto reached down for the book he had dropped and took off again while Kakashi just watched him leave, book in hand once again. A tiny tear slid its way out of his visible up-turned eye, dampening his ever-present mask slightly.

"I'm so proud." His face stayed glued in that ridiculous manner as he took off with more vigor than usual, headed straight in the direction of the Hokage's building. He was now determined to get some answers and when it concerned his late sensei and his legacy, Kakashi Hatake son of the White Fang of Konoha wasn't going to take no for an answer.

* * *

Naruto had sprinted to the compound, wanting to make up for the lost time his collision had cost him. It still didn't even leave him panting as he rounded the corner and neatly smacked into a certain feral boy and his canine companion. Both teens were sent backwards as Naruto made his second collision of the night.

"Hey watch it!" Kiba didn't exactly look happy as he stood up rubbing his head and moving to pick Akamaru back up. "Hey, you're that guy from before, uhh Naruko right?" Naruto stood up as well, rubbing the same spot as his brush with Kakashi, the same apologetic look on his features.

"Oh sorry about that, and its Naruto, Naruko's a girl's name." he chuckled, catching Kiba off guard with his light-hearted nature. Most people found Kiba to be irritable and took offense to most of what he said when sufficiently irritated, which didn't take much. He noticed Naruto's outstretched hand and after a moment of hesitation grasped it.

"Kiba" The dog riding in the top of his coat yipped loudly, somewhat annoyed at being left out of the greetings. "Oh and this is Akamaru" Naruto smiled, scratching the small puppy behind the ears, much to his obvious pleasure as he leaned into the contact. "Huh, he seems to like you, doesn't usually warm up to people so quickly." Naruto just rubbed the back of his head with the hand that wasn't occupied with stroking Akamaru.

"Yeah, animals just seem to like me I guess" He ignored the throaty chuckle from inside his head.

"Hana would love you; she always has problems with animals that get uncomfortable in her clinic." Seeing Naruto's blank expression he chuckled and quickly clarified. "Hana's my sister; she runs the vet practice in out compound, except lately she keeps complaining about not getting assigned a genin team." Suddenly Kiba looked curiously at Naruto like he had just remembered something important.

"What are you doing all the way out here anyway? The Inuzuka compound's right on the edge of the village." Naruto wasn't sure how to explain that Kiba's mother had invited him and his teammates to stay with them until the Chuunin exams were over, right out of the blue. Actually now that he thought about it, that sounded all right.

"You mother invited me and my teammates to stay in your compound until the Chuunin Exams are over." Kiba raised a brow quizzically, the sight almost making Naruto laugh.

"Huh, stay with us... why?" Naruto tried to suppress the devilish grin that attempted to appear on his face.

"Truthfully?" Kiba nodded, now extremely curious. Naruto just motioned with his hand for the Inuzuka to come closer. He did so and Naruto motioned again, this repeated a few times as Kiba got closer and more curious until Naruto was right next to his ear. The suspense was really getting to him now as Naruto smiled devilishly. "I have no idea." Kiba backed away from the strange blonde, a large drop of sweat comically hanging from the side of his head.

"Um alright then, I guess I'll take you in." Naruto happily nodded and despite the strangeness of the situation Kiba found his good mood to be slightly infectious. Inside the compound Naruto immediately noticed the copious amounts of open land, no doubt for the nin-dogs in training to practise or play in. Also on every door there was a flap or dogs to enter and they were all suspiciously large. Naruto saw why when he saw an Inuzuka clan member walking with their companion, which came up to their chest.

Kiba barely even seemed to notice the abnormal size of the various dogs around him and Naruto couldn't help but take a curious glance at Akamaru. He was currently small enough to ride around atop Kiba's head, would he grow to be that large as well?" Naruto shrugged it off as it didn't concern him right now; anyway they were walking through the door into one of the larger buildings that were sparsely spread around the compound.

Immediately the smell of dogs and wet fur washed over Naruto's senses, almost making him gag from the power of it. He managed to hold it in to not seem rude and quickly adjusted to the overpowering smell. He was sure by now that even if he didn't have a nose that could catch a rabbit half a mile away it would still be strong. Suddenly three large dogs that looked suspiciously more like wolves rushed past him through the doggy-flap in the door he and Kiba had entered through.

They were quickly followed by a young woman, maybe three or four years older that Naruto and Kiba. She had the same clan markings as Kiba and Tsume and the same general scent of animals, yet hers seemed to be more diverse. From that he took a wild guess that this was the Hana that Kiba mentioned before and the variety of smells was from working with animals all day. She appeared remarkably less feral that the other Inuzukas Naruto had met, lacking the shaggy hair and slitted eyes.

She wore a high-collared white medic coat but Naruto couldn't see what she wore underneath. Suddenly Naruto felt slightly awkward as to why he had even thought that in the first place but shook his head of it when Hana turned to look at the two of them.

"Hey Kiba, have you seen Mom?" Kiba just shook his head.

"Nah, I was actually looking for her myself." At that moment, as if her ears had been burning, or more likely she was sneezing up a storm, Tsume appeared around the corridor.

"Ah Naruto, you're here, good. Your friends showed up earlier and said you would be coming later." She looked across at Kiba. "Oh even better you've met my son" She then looked to Naruto's other side "and my daughter it would seem." She smirked, showing off her elongated canines that matched Naruto's own, when he showed them. "It seems like I'm missing out on a family reunion." Kiba took that opportunity to voice his most pertinent and eloquent question.

"Mom, who is this guy?" Naruto looked across at him, smirking at him; he couldn't fault the boy for his directness. Tsume on the other hand seemed to expect the reaction completely and even seemed prepared for it.

"The Village Hidden in the Sand are our allies Kiba; I thought it would be nice to let them stay somewhere more comfortable than those dingy barracks the outside teams normally get." Kiba still seemed suspicious but relented under his mother's gaze; pack mentality was strong here and it was obvious who the alpha of the house was. Hana only seemed amused by the answer, smirking at her brother's submissive look.

"Well it was nice meeting you Naruto." She made a move to follow the dogs that had run past earlier but Tsume caught her arm as she went by.

"Hana, would you be so kind as to show our friend to the guest quarters?" The younger woman eyed her mother curiously, looking for a reason behind the request in her monochrome eyes. She nodded slowly and Tsume smiled happily, with only a hint of her usual animalistic qualities. Naruto hesitantly walked over to Hana and tried his best to smile but the sheer awkwardness of the whole situation turned it into more of a lopsided grin.

Hana just sighed and made a motion with her hand for him to follow her however once they were out of earshot of her family, a long distance thanks to another of their canine qualities, she struck up a conversation.

"So any idea why mom's taken such a shine to you?" Naruto just shook his head, shrugging and looking a little lost. "So what's the Sand like? I've been on a few tracking missions but none into Wind Country." Naruto chuckled with genuine humour.

"It's hard to describe but I think dry and hot best sums it up." Hana shared his smile as they walked out of the hut and across more open land. Naruto finally gathered the nerve to ask the question that had been bugging him for a while. "So why do you guys use actual dogs as opposed to summons?" Hana just looked at him like the answer was so obvious the question wasn't even worth asking.

"Easy, summons are good and all but nothing beats the bond we Inuzuka's develop with our companions." She smirked "Let me demonstrate" She pulled back he sleeve on her shirt to reveal a small seal on her shoulder shaped suspiciously like a whistle. She bit her thumb and smeared some of the blood across the seal and before Naruto knew it a high pitch whistle emanated from her shoulder.

It was so high that it caused Naruto to drop to the ground with his hands clutched over his ears in pain. Once the ringing in his ears stopped and his hearing returned he stood back up, cowering a little while Hana looked at him with part curiosity and part shock.

"A little warning, next time would be nice" he tried to say it jokingly but the fact that he was wincing, still clutching an ear, took away some of its humour.

"Sorry about that, humans aren't supposed to be able to hear it, it's specifically tuned to our companions so even the other dogs can't." Again she stared at him, intrigued by the strange reaction to her calling seal. Naruto just looked sheepishly at the ground, even as the three dogs Hana had been chasing before bounded over.

"Don't worry about it; my ears are just a little... sensitive." Hana smiled but on the inside she was still rife with curiosity over the strange boy _'Sensitive... you can say that again, that call was over 40,000 hertz'._ They walked the rest of the way to the guest quarters in silence, both of them completely forgetting that Hana had been about to show him something. The dogs, which Naruto was now sure were in fact wolves, bounded along quite happily behind them, tongues lolling out.

Hana led him inside where he was suddenly tackled to the ground by a red blur. Coming out of his daze he looked up at Tayuya's angry face. Her eyes were trying, unsuccessfully, to burn through his forehead with her sheer willpower alone. He just continued to look up at her with his normal cocky grin that he knew would drive her insane.

"What the fuck Shithead? You said you were right behind us, why the hell were you half an hour late?" Naruto shrugged from his position beneath her, trying to fight off a strange sensation that was suddenly coming over him seeing his oldest friend from this angle. The fact that her warm thighs were straddling his chest wasn't helping at all. He really needed her to get off of him before-

"She's trying to say she was worried." Gaara's voice ripped through the awkward tension that had arisen and Naruto looked up at Tayuya bemused while she turned away from him to hide her flushed cheeks.

"Like hell I was Sandy, I just don't like being left out of the loop." The fact that she wouldn't look at Naruto as she said that at least confirmed Gaara's statement, it brought a smile to his face. It always felt nice to be missed, not that he enjoyed making people miss him of course, but the sentiment was still there.

"Uh Tayuya you can get off me now." She was still blushing and trying not to look at him, not even realising the compromising position she had put them in. She suddenly leaped back and quickly walked into one of the rooms behind them. Gaara threw an amused look between them as Tayuya stormed off before he too retired. Hana on the other hand was just barely holding in her laughter after watching the whole awkward but hilarious affair.

She didn't say anything though and with only one last look behind her at the odd trio she walked out of the building. Naruto heard her laughter echo away into the night and was slightly disgruntled she would find amusement in situations like that. He walked into Tayuya's room, puzzling out the strange feeling he had when she was straddling him but not coming to any conclusion he shrugged and climbed into bed behind her.

She didn't say a word but allowed him to wrap his hand around her waist and after a few minutes she snuggled back into his body, all their problems forgotten. Every morning was a blank canvas between the two of them, they had no secrets and no arguments that would carry over; it was just how they were together. Some might have called it an odd relationship to share with a friend but neither of them would trade it for anything.


	13. Chapter 13

Naruto would have literally leapt out of the bed in excitement if it wasn't for the bundle of red hair pressed up against him. Instead, as to avoid the likely punch to the gut, he merely shifted his position slightly, noting the strange feel of something tugging at the boxers he wore. He turned a most violent shade of red when he realised exactly what it was and his eyes opened wide. He was most definitely awake now although he hoped he couldn't say the same for his friend.

"Mhmm get your knee out of my ass cheek Shithead." Naruto would have sighed in relief if he didn't think that would have alerted Tayuya to his 'friend's' wake-up. He quickly adjusted himself before sliding out from behind Tayuya, still thoroughly embarrassed by everything that had happened so far. He heard her mumble; complaining about him taking away her heat but right now he felt like enough of it was rushing to his cheeks.

He had a long, long shower and only risked getting out when he was sure that he wouldn't have a repeat of this morning. For the longest time he just stared at it, wondering what the hell was going on today, it had certainly never done that before. It was such an awkward situation because usually he would go to Tayuya about things like this except for some reason he didn't think that would be the best idea. Then again they so rarely held secrets from one another and even if they did it was never for very long.

Naruto felt so conflicted about what to do before his sleep-addled mind finally realised he had another friend, one that was more likely to understand his 'situation'. He still felt uncomfortable about keeping something from his oldest friend but right now he could live with it if it meant avoiding the inevitable embarrassment. In fact now that he thought about it Naruto couldn't even think why he was embarrassed at all, but he knew that he should be.

He got dressed very quickly, smiling as he saw that Tayuya had barely moved, instead only wrapping the sheets around her tighter to ward off the cold that Naruto's absence created. In her mind he was still better than and blanket, like her own personal heater. The thought brought a smile to her half-asleep face and she snuggled back into the bed, desperately trying to soak up the last of the warmth he left imprinted on the mattress.

Little did Naruto know that he wasn't the only one that would start to have strange sensations that morning. Although having had the talk with Temari Tayuya at least understood what they were, even if she didn't quite understand why they were happening. She neglected to tell Naruto because she honestly thought he wouldn't care. After her equally long, if not slightly longer shower, she stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body.

The benefit of Naruto being a morning person and her most certainly not being a morning person meant she always had the room to herself once he had gotten ready. She looked at the curtained window and the weak light that was barely able to filter through the tiny gap. Chuckling to herself she figured Naruto was out training right about now, he was so predictable to her it wasn't even amusing, well okay it was a little amusing to her. Of course she never would have expected him to be in the room next to theirs talking with Gaara about subjects that were quickly bringing a blush to the sand-wielder's otherwise impassive face.

"Naruto, do you really think I'm the best person to talk with this about?" Naruto just looked at him funnily, his eyebrow raised in a curious manner. Gaara just sighed, he loved his friend like a brother, possibly more yet he could be a real idiot sometimes. "You're the one that reads those perverted books; I would think you would know more about this than me." He said in his normal dead-pan manner but he still couldn't hide the trace embarrassment that crept in.

"Hey they're not perverted!" Gaara just put his palm to his forehead, trying to stave off the headache this conversation was surely going to give him.

"Naruto did you even listen to me? Don't you read the 'other' parts of those books?" Naruto nodded, his own small blush now developing as he thought back to some of the more heated moments in his favourite literary series. "Doesn't that explain how... everything works?" Naruto looked confused for a moment before squinting his eyes and concentrating on what the scenes actually said. It didn't help that he usually skimmed over them, only picking up the barest of details. Suddenly his eyes shot out to the size of dinner plates, which would have been an amusing sight if Gaara didn't know what he was thinking about.

"Oh so that's what the authors always talking about?" He smiled, feeling pleased with himself for working it out on his own, until he realised just what he worked out. Red once again covered his face as he realised just what his little friend meant when it pressed against Tayuya like that. "Oh crap Gaara you have to help me control it!" It was the red-heads turn to open his eyes wide.

"What the hell do you mean control it?" Naruto opened his mouth, ready to reply in his usual hothead manner but his mind drew a blank and he ended up looking like some comical imitation of a fish. He flopped back down onto Gaara's bed.

"Aw man, what am I going to do? I need to talk to somebody about this but who?"

* * *

A large man with long spiky white hair sneezed loudly, only saved from being located thanks to the privacy seal he had drawn up for himself that kept the worst of his giggling from being heard. He rubbed his nose, smirking to himself _'Some foxy young lady must be talking about me to her friends, Jiraiya you old fiend you. I've still got it.' _He happily returned to writing notes in his small journal, the research was progressing well today.

* * *

Gaara just looked at him, as lost as his friend was, there was no real point asking someone who knew less about it that you did so Naruto just resigned himself. He tried to clear his mind by training, using the harsh physical exercise to exhaust his mind and body. He was rather upset, today had started out so well and now he was as confused as he had been the first time he noticed Tayuya start to 'change'.

This was how Hana found him, the scent of his sweat drawing her over, it was unusual because most Inuzuka's trained with their companions out in the training fields. She wasn't afraid to admit that the scent of sweat and hard training aroused her slightly; her family did share almost too much in common with dogs after all. That was why she was surprised to find Naruto out behind his building up in a tree doing pull ups.

Except he was a shinobi, and Naruto, so there had to be some unique slant to it. To work himself that little bit extra he was upside down with his feet stuck to a high branch using only chakra. She watched him for a few minutes as he lifted hit body up until he could touch his toes before allowing his body to return to a vertical position in a controlled manner. It was impressive to say the least although she had seen similar work-outs from Might Guy.

Of course the young shinobi up in the tree had significantly better fashion sense that the self proclaimed 'handsome beast of the leaf village'. She smirked, not noticing as Naruto silently dropped out of the tree, spotting her for the first time.

"Oh hi Hana, sorry if I disturbed you." She looked up from her thoughts, nearly jumping when she found Naruto right next to her. She cursed, with her enhanced senses she should have noticed him before he got anywhere near that close.

"Oh no Naruto, I was just curious to see who was training back here." She looked him over curiously, something that seemed to be more common the longer she was around the strange Sand shinobi. "Don't you have the first round of the Chuunin Exams today? Why are you out training?" he just shrugged, grimacing as his scent finally caught up to him.

"I never miss an opportunity in the morning" He said it with a smile as he was walking away, obviously for his second shower this morning. Just then an idea occurred to him and some red invaded the bridge of his nose as he turned to look back at Hana. "Um Hana?" She had been bemusedly watching him leave until he turned around, catching her staring and even though he didn't notice some red managed to invade her own cheeks.

"Yes Naruto?" He walked back to her, still blushing slightly as he fought for the right words to say.

"Kiba said you're a vet so you work with animals right? Like a medic?" She smirked, wondering where this was going.

"Actually I am a medic-nin, I'm just a vet as well because it suits our clan. Humans are just animals after all." He seemed even more pleased with her answer.

"Well um, so what does it uhh, mean when...?" he started blushing more profusely and in the end just started lowering his hand and motioning to his lower region. Hana didn't quite get what he meant at first until realisation struck and she had to fight back a laugh.

"Oh don't worry about _that_ pup, it just means you're growing up is all." He seemed rather sated by that but suddenly took notice of what she had called her.

"Hey I'm not a pup!" Hana just chuckled, walking past Naruto and ruffling his already unruly hair.

"Oh but you are a pup." Naruto looked particularly irritated by the contact but managed to control himself long enough to turn and call back to her.

"So that's it, it's just natural?" She chuckled again, having to remind herself just how young shinobi started. It seemed like an odd thought considering she was only four years his senior but then again she was an Inuzuka and they all learned this stuff at a very young age.

"Perfectly, come and see me some time and I'll explain it better to you." She left Naruto feeling rather awkward as he quickly hurried back inside to grab another shower before the three of them had to go for the first round.

* * *

They walked through the building, marvelling at just how many ninja of all nationalities, except Iwa and Kumo, were here. They walked up the stairs and Naruto was about to walk into a corridor when Tayuya grabbed him from behind.

"What are you doing Shithead? Room 301" Naruto looked at her strangely and motioned to the classroom down the hall where a few of the entrants were huddled around a doorway.

"Yeah, that's room 301." Tayuya just glared at him and Gaara let slip a rare smile.

"You fucktard, that's obviously a genjutsu. Honestly after all this time you'd think you'd be able to see the basic fucking ones like that!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, now that it had been pointed out he could in fact spot the rather obvious genjutsu placed on the classroom sign. The problem for him with genjutsu was that his heightened senses meant when a genjutsu was placed over him it made everything seem even more real. It was the one weakness to his usually advantageous ability.

"Yeah sorry" Tayuya just playfully slapped him on the back of his head for being an idiot, not really in the mood for fighting. She wouldn't admit it but she was almost as excited for this as Naruto was. She saw it as the first true test of her skills that would actually have some evidence to help her evaluate herself. She couldn't honestly give a damn if she made chuunin or not, the next exams were in Suna after all so she would easily ace those but it was the challenge she relished.

They made it to the correct room this time, Naruto still acting sheepish over his blunder. They entered into the crowded classroom, nobody even bothering to turn for the new arrivals; the room was nearly full to capacity anyway. The trio shrugged and made their way over to the back of the staggered classroom where Temari, Kankuro, and their teammate were sitting. They took a seat next to their fellow sand nin and casually awaited the arrival of the proctor.

Naruto looked around, scoping out some of the competition, he quickly spotted the Konoha Genin, and there were quite a lot of them. He counted twelve rookies and a few others that were obviously retaking. He noticed one of the older ones, the one with glassed and odd white hair, approach the younger shinobi and laid out cards before them. With his decent sight Naruto could at least pick out they were some kind of information cards, although on what he couldn't figure out.

What he did know was that he did not like that young man, he smelled all too familiar. It was weaker and almost second hand but there was the unmistakable scent of snakes and deep underground places about the odd man. He tried to listen in on their conversation but through the throng of people all conversing with one another he could only pick out scattered fragments. Everybody got a show however as a strange hunched over shinobi with a large metal gauntlet took a swipe at the bespectacled Leaf nin.

Naruto watched on curiously as he dodged the blow, yet even so his glasses cracked and he keeled over, clutching his ears. Naruto immediately guessed sonic attack; he was definitely going to have to be wary about that one. He couldn't help but smirk as the Leaf ninja writhed on the floor in pain before noticing just who had attacked him.

Sound ninja, they were told to be wary of them, there was no solid evidence suggesting they were involved with Orochimaru. However from the way he would have had the Sand ally with them it was an educated guess that they were. They certainly lived up to their namesake if they really did use sound-based attacks. Naruto noticed he wasn't the only one fixated on their odd method of fighting as he saw Tayuya riveted on the bandaged shinobi's gauntlet. He was about to comment on that, most likely in a sarcastic manner when what looked like a large smoke bomb erupted at the front of the room.

"Alright you baby faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up! It's time to begin. I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor and from this moment, your worst enemy."

* * *

When everybody was sitting in their proper places, more specifically away from their teammates, and Ibiki had explained the rules, everybody began the test in front of them. Naruto just stared at it with wide eyes, there were only nine-questions but each one looked like it was more suited to an ANBU exam, not chuunin. Hell half the stuff on this sheet of paper looked more like advanced arithmetic rather than stuff that could actually help with being a ninja.

And what was all that about point deduction if caught cheating? That in itself was weird, why wouldn't they just disqualify you outright for catching you doing something like that? Naruto was practically despairing as he repeatedly, but softly as to not interrupt the other candidates, banged his head on the table. He stopped after a few moments realising that he might be misinterpreted as some kind of code.

Luckily for Naruto he was not alone in the room and a few minutes into the test he began to notice sand coalescing on his desk, just to the right of his paper. Quickly it formed into words, then sentences; soon all the answers to the test were right in front of him. He smiled to himself, reminding himself to thank Gaara after this was all done. No doubt he was using his third eye technique to gain the answers before sending them to him and most likely Tayuya.

He didn't exactly like the idea of cheating to get by but if it meant he carried on further into the exam he could live with it. Finally finished he made a distinct, but short tapping motion with his foot and immediately the sand dispersed, floating back into fine particles, no doubt on their way back to Gaara's gourd. He leaned back on his chair, rather comfortable now that he didn't have to worry. In his panic he had barely noticed that a few other teams had been caught cheating enough times to earn disqualification.

Now that he was safe he could watch as the numbers slowly whittled down in threes. It seemed a bit unfair that one person's cheating meant disqualification for their entire team but then again if his had been caught it would have been perfectly just. Finally, once there were only a few minutes to go until the tenth question was revealed, everybody seemed to have completed the test. He idly wondered how the Konoha teams did, as well as Kankuro and Temari.

Finally the clock showed that their forty five minutes were up and everybody leaned forward in their chair expectantly as Ibiki explained the rules for the last question. Many of the Genin were outraged, as was Naruto, although he said nothing. Drawing attention to himself at this point wouldn't do him or his friends any good. Although if he knew them as well as he did then Tayuya was just as angry as he was.

Even so they calmly waited, not taking the bait as many teams began forfeiting from the exams. It was just unfortunate that they were using psychological warfare on their young minds, a subject that Baki-sensei just happened to be an expert in. They waited it out until it seemed there was nobody left that was going to leave, leaving the classroom much sparser than it had been at the start.

Finally Ibiki revealed the significance of the final question and Naruto grinned wildly, knowing that he was through to the next round. It was certainly a good feeling as he put his feet up on the table in front of him, smiling broadly and soaking in the small victory. Ibiki was about to go on and explain further when the window to the right of the room suddenly burst inwards, showering the scarred proctor with a hail of glass.

Four kunai shot through the new opening into the room, each attached to a corner of a large banner which unfurled mid-flight. The kunai embedded themselves into the walls, proudly displaying the message and releasing the woman inside simultaneously. Naruto just stared at her; vibrant purple hair, a long tan trench coat, a skirt that was far from decent, not to mention her mesh shirt that only contained a thin grey shirt underneath, not leaving much to the imagination.

"Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi." Most of the chuunin-hopefuls in the room just stared at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Naruto on the other hand had to stifle a laugh at the brilliant entrance as he held a thumbs up to the eccentric but definitely interesting woman. Anko noticed this and smirked, glad at least one of the little brats could understand a good entrance.

"Right then, are you ready for the second test? Good now follow me!" She stuck her hand up in a way that made Naruto have to stifle another laugh and only increased the awkward discomfort in the room. Ibiki appeared from around the side of the banner, looking highly irritated at the outlandish Tokubetsu Jonin's antics.

"You're early... again." Anko didn't exactly look pleased to hear that and this time Naruto couldn't hold it back, he let out a loud laugh which only further annoyed Anko. She recovered quickly, looking around the room at all the prospects, nodding her satisfaction.

"Good work for once Ibiki, only twelve teams." Ibiki just sent her an irritated glare that she completely ignored. "Well alright maggots, you think you're so great because you survived this one little test? Well by the time I'm through with you they'll be less than half of you left. I'll let you're squad leaders know where to meet tomorrow morning. Dismissed." And with that everybody who had survived the first day of the chuunin exams filed out of the room. Naruto, Tayuya, and Gaara were among the last, he couldn't help it. When Naruto passed by the eccentric shinobi he couldn't help but turn and compliment her.

"Great entrance." Anko immediately narrowed her eyes at the little punk that was mocking her but she quickly understood he had meant it honestly if the laughter still fresh on his face was evidence. She wasn't quite sure how to process it at first, nobody ever really paid head to her antics and pranks. In fact most just ignored her completely.

"Thanks Gaki, but don't get too cocky. You're not going to like me if you make it through the second exam." Naruto only maintained his smile and stared at her.

"We'll see." Before she could react he was already out the door with Anko watching him leave. A very amused Ibiki watched her rather shocked reaction, savouring the unusual occurrence for a moment.

"So is that all it takes to get under your skin nowadays Anko? Blonde hair and a smile?" The irate kunoichi rounded on the interrogation expert, her eyes flaming.

"Oh shut it Scarface." And like a flash she was out of the same window she had come in by, leaving a rather startled Ibiki in her wake.

"Boy that was one strange kid, funny, but strange." He grinned but that quickly dissipated when he turned and realised that Anko had left the banner up from her ridiculous entrance. With a groan he ordered one of the chuunin on the side of the room to tear it down before he walked out of the room in a much more irritable manner than he had entered. _'That damn woman will be the death of me'._

* * *

Everybody just stared at the imposing sight in front of them. Trees the size of buildings, deadly animals in plain sight and a general feeling of darkness and despair that emanated from the ominous training ground like a scent. Anko stood in front of them, facing away from the flimsy piece of metal that someone might call a fence. She soaked in the awed and frightened faced, taking pleasure at how her personal training ground was having its usual effect. That was until she came across a certain spiky haired blond and his team.

"Oooh nooo, a forest with water and plenty of animals to hunt, however will we survive?" Out of nowhere a kunai flew directly at him; he tried to dodge but it had been so unexpected that it managed to nick his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. Anko suddenly appeared behind him in an impressive show of speed, her mouth close to his ear.

"So we've got a tough guy huh? Well you should be worried, there's more than animals in that forest that are out for your blood." Her eyes opened wide when Naruto suddenly ceased to exist in front of her and she felt a presence behind her back. Before she could react a Kunai was carefully placed against her cheek and with a slight motion it created a line about the same length as the one currently on Naruto's.

At least she thought it was a kunai, instead when she angrily rounded on the cocky brat she found him holding nothing but a pen. Of course she understood the significance, she had let down her guard and he was in a position where he could have mortally wounded her. She didn't know whether to feel furious, embarrassed, or a little turned on. After all the Inuzukas weren't the only ones that were allowed to be weird when it came to these things.

She angrily snatched the offending pen and snapped it with one hand although much to her chagrin he just smiled at her innocently. She glared at him, trying her best to hide her true feelings behind a mask of anger, even though he didn't look affected. Finally she smiled; a chilling smile that only Anko Mitarashi could pull off and was a beacon to most Leaf Shinobi to run for the hills.

"Nice one gaki, you got me." All the chuunin and a few of the jonin over at the gate waiting for the genin to sign the waivers, sweat-dropped. Everybody chuunin or higher knew of Anko's reputation and this type of reaction wasn't part of it. She turned around to the rest of the genin who had just stared awkwardly through the whole confrontation and started announcing how the second part of the exam was going to work. Naruto just slinked back over to his team where Tayuya smacked him in the back of his head. It didn't diminish his smirk and he could see that she was equally amused by what he did.

Anko just stared at his retreating form going back to his team; that was a kid to watch out for. She didn't know if he was all talk and bravado but she felt like she would have fun finding out. She decided that for the first time since she had started doing the second test for the Chuunin Exams she was going to watch from the tower's cameras. There was also something nagging at the back of her mind, somebody he reminded her of but she just couldn't place it.

"You Shithead, we're supposed to keep out skills under wraps until the last fucking round, now everybody knows you're fast." Naruto just smiled at her which made her involuntarily smile back.

"They haven't seen anything yet."

* * *

Every team had been given their respective scroll, all of them had signed the death waivers and they all stood outside of their gates waiting for the signal to be given to start. Naruto took waiting to mean he had an opportunity to read his oh so enjoyable book. Tayuya was eyeing him irritably, still not having caught up to him despite her persistence. Gaara was just idly leaning on the fence, wondering how long it was going to take them to find another team and get to the tower in the centre.

He smirked, between his sand and Naruto's nose they would get though this in an hour tops. He frowned slightly, it was a real shame that Tayuya hadn't come into her all yet, them not having use for genjutsu for now. He hoped that would change by the time they got to the last round at least, perhaps it might even come in handy in the forest but he doubted that slightly. Then again it had proved useful for getting the drop on their enemies in the past.

He made a promise not to let Tayuya's tremendous talents go to waste here. However he didn't want to squeeze her into a plan for that reason alone. He shook his head clear of the thoughts, he was worrying over nothing, Tayuya was a valued and irreplaceable part of their team and he wouldn't trade her for anybody. He smiled as he watched her scowl at Naruto; she may not be a jinchuuriki but she could certainly be as frightening as one.

Suddenly all three ninja received a small surprise as Anko dropped out of nowhere. However the real surprising thing was that none of them reacted. Gaara wasn't sure if it was because he had smelled her coming or not but Naruto didn't even look up from his book. He read on a few more lines before folding the corner of the page and slowly closing the book in a manner that always drove Baki-sensei insane. It was Naruto's method of royally annoying anybody of a higher rank than himself.

"Oh great, here I was thinking you guys might actually prove entertaining and I find that you read those same stupid books as Kakashi." She seemed genuinely disappointed, until Naruto reached behind him into the small pouch on his hip. Anko tensed, wary due to their last encounter but he simply pulled his hand back around, holding onto an identical copy of the book in his other hand. He threw the small orange book over to the special jonin who deftly caught it and looked at the offending object like she might catch a disease form it.

"You should try reading it, you might actually enjoy it." And with that Naruto seemed to almost dismiss her as he returned to reading his book. Anko just couldn't believe how this genin was acting around her, if she didn't know any better she would think he was Kakashi's personal clone. Except that wasn't quite right, it went beyond that; there it was again, that nagging feeling that she should know his face from somewhere.

She decided to ask Kakashi himself about it seeing as the two seemed to share so many similarities. She took off, quite intent on retreating from the unnaturally cool blonde before he could embarrass her further, not even realising she was still holding onto the present Naruto had given to her. Naruto on the other hand _had _noticed and was smirking, one eye on Anko as she left. Tayuya didn't get a chance to berate him for his latest strange behaviour as with a buzz the gates into the forest of death opened and the three Sand shinobi sprinted in.


	14. Chapter 14

Despite many of the ninja teams immediately heading into the trees as soon as the gates opened the Sand trio stayed on the ground. While trees offered a height advantage and the ability to travel faster they were more in their element closer to the ground; or at least Gaara was. Tayuya was the same in both environments, as was Naruto, despite his surprising proficiency in tree running. The dimmer conditions didn't affect them either thanks to Naruto's and Gaara's more sensitive eyes and Tayuya's practise with getting around in the dark.

It also limited their opponents; the Konoha shinobi would no doubt stick to the trees as it was their natural environment. Naruto had no idea about the Sounds' preferences but he at least knew that the Grass ninja would no doubt stick to the ground level like them. Right now he was tracking the scent of wet grass that was steadily heading closer to them. At the same time he was keeping tabs on all of the shinobi in the vicinity.

Gaara protected them from the various dangerous fauna that were stupid or brave enough to attack them. After a while though they seemed to get the idea that coming near the human child with the strange container was a bad idea. Contrary to many ninja ideals of getting in and out quickly the three were taking it relatively slow, being careful to not give away their own position. They only had to speed up when he smelt the Grass ninja moving closer to another group of shinobi, most likely Leaf.

He smirked, this was perfect, now the two teams would fight it out and they could merely pick off the winners, weakened as they would be. It was hardly the most honourable or courageous thing to do but they were ninja, that wasn't part of their job. When you had an advantage you took it, most would be stupid not to and those were the ninja that got killed. He felt the two groups draw closer; from the way they moved Naruto could tell the Konoha team were completely unprepared for the attack.

Naruto frowned as he felt two of the scents from the Grass-nin take off, leaving only one still heading towards the group. That was strange; Naruto thought they must be forming some kind of plan but the other two kept on moving, further into the forest. He quickly informed his teammates of the strange occurrence and they were just as confused as he was. He left Tayuya to mull it over, being the tactician of the group, while they closed in on the groups, now very curious to see what was going on.

What they saw surprised them to say the least, a single female Grass-nin standing high up in the trees facing the three Konoha-nin. She seemed to just be glaring at them and they were frozen in fear, Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to see just what was going on. The leaf team was comprised of the same Genin they had observed in Wave Country; the Uchiha, the pink-haired girl, and the one with black glasses and the long, high collared grey coat.

The glasses wearing boy was unconscious, barely propped up by the trembling girl as her eyes were firmly fixed on that of the Grass ninja's. Suddenly Naruto caught another scent on the air and his eyes narrowed into a hateful glare. From the Grass ninja, no matter how well it was hidden beneath genjutsus and other means he could still smell Orochimaru's vile stench. He only seemed to have noticed the new arrivals now, looking down at them with a vicious smile and almost amused eyes.

"Ahhh, so it's the boy with the impressive nose..." he looked across at Gaara who was still uninformed of just who this was "...and the fatherless one." His lips curled up into an ugly smile as he licked his lips with an abnormally long tongue. Gaara narrowed his eyes, wondering who was defiant enough to call him that, or how they even knew. Naruto tried to stay calm but he was finding that extremely difficult with the murderer of his friend's father so close.

"Orochimaru." It was a growl more than anything else as he fought to stop himself just blindly jumping at the man. This was one of Konoha's most dangerous missing ninja; there was no way Naruto could take him on by himself. Of course Gaara wasn't nearly as able to control himself; he had just learnt that his father's killer was standing across from him, within the range of his sand. It reacted immediately; the entire gourd broke apart revealing the entirety of Gaara's sand, all of which immediately lashed out in Orochimaru's direction.

The snake sannin jumped out of the way with time to spare but watched in quiet intrigue as the whip of sand levelled the small area of forestry behind where he had stood. It didn't stop there though; as soon as Gaara noticed the missing-nin's movement he redirected some of the sand. This time it came much closer, Orochimaru having to physically exert himself to bend his grotesquely lithe body underneath the practical wall of sand.

Gaara's eyes were burning and his mouth was pulled up into a snarl that matched Tayuya on her worst days. As his sand did its work he slowly walked across the clearing, eyes never leaving Orochimaru's form as he danced about in the trees. Each blow was more vicious and stronger than it' predecessor and soon there were no trees left for the pale-skinned man to jump to. He was tired of playing around anyway; when the next sand whip came at him he didn't even bother to move.

All Naruto saw was a glint of steel before the sand overwhelmed him, suddenly the stream parted, curving around the murderer. Naruto saw why, emerging from the man's mouth was a large sword that actually split the sand straight down the middle. Unfortunately Gaara couldn't see this from his position; all he did was keep the barrage hammering in on the man. He wasn't planning on letting him go now that he finally had him.

Then all at once Orochimaru vanished, appearing moments later behind Gaara with his sword poised to strike through the boy's heart. His sand was only just fast enough to intercept the strike before it would have pierced his heart. It only slowed the blade but that was enough time for more of Gaara's defence to congregate at the point's position and reinforce the shield that had sprung up. Orochimaru jumped back before a large spike emerged from the wall, right where the snake-man's head would have been.

Naruto had been standing still, shocked by the raw ferocity Gaara displayed levelling the clearing and attacking his father's killer. He finally saw his opportunity to attack while the man was focused on his friend but as soon as he made a move a purple and white blur appeared in front of him, hand on his chest. Naruto was about to slug the guy before he saw the Leaf headband and held his fist back an inch from his side.

"Don't get involved. This is my fight, he attacked me." Naruto just looked at him, annoyed and dumfounded. Noticing the red eyes the now true Uchiha possessed as well as the single tomoe of one eye and the double in the other.

"What the hell are you talking about? Don't you know who that-?" He jumped back as another one of Gaara's sand whips, which were looking more and more like arms as the seconds trickled by, smashed through what was left of the tree above them. He back flipped backwards just in time for the trunk to smash into the ground where he stood. He was about to make another move to help his friend when he saw the Uchiha leap out from cover and engaged Orochimaru.

Naruto couldn't help but watch the rather impressive display of taijutsu from the Genin; he definately hadn't been that good when they observed him in wave. Even though Orochimaru dodged every single blow that came his way they still came hard and fast. Eventually the Snake Sannin either got bored or he was actually feeling hard pressed. Naruto thought the former more likely and when he backhanded Sasuke and sent him flying across the clearing to crash painfully into a tree trunk.

He was obviously about to go and finish the job or whatever it was he planned when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He dodged just as Naruto's fist came sailing over his torso; Naruto just followed his momentum, moving over Orochimaru and attempting a strong kick to the man's side. He simply grabbed Naruto's foot out of the air and threw him with strength unexpected for a man of his build.

Naruto twisted in the air, landing feet first against the trunk he had been thrown at only to coil up tightly and pounce right back. Orochimaru once again avoided the punch, noticing the hand was splayed as if the genin was trying to slap him. He soon understood why when four rips appeared across his face; Naruto was under a henge but that didn't mean his claws weren't still there. He looked up, quite pleased that he had landed a blow only to see a most horrific sight.

Orochimaru stood there, his mouth curled up into that same bone-chilling smile, only half his face was hanging off in tatters. Below it was merely another face; it revealed the faint purple tattoos on the sides of his nose and his pallid, sickly skin. Naruto wasn't sure whether or not to be disgusted or intrigued, he decided on the former as he continued to stare at the grotesque sight.

"Most impressive Naruto, it has been a while since anybody came close to hurting me like that. It really is a shame about your resident; otherwise I believe you might make the absolute perfect candidate for just what I have planned." His smile somehow grew even more evil and his eyes bored into Naruto's own, freezing him in place with the intent behind them.

"As it is I have plans for young Sasuke here so if you don't mind..." With that the snake sannin broke his gaze with Naruto only for the young boy to freeze again as Orochimaru's neck elongated in an impossible manner. The newly lengthened appendage shot across the clearing, fang like teeth bared and aimed directly at Sasuke's neck. The sannin closed its eyes and bit down into the soft flesh, working the necessary jutsu in his mind as slowly the three-pronged seal coalesced on soft skin. He pulled back to admire his handy work only to snarl in barely-concealed rage as he saw a flash of red hair.

Tayuya's eyes were opened wide in shock, unblinking and unfocused as she just stood there for a moment. She had a kunai raised out in front of herself but it harmlessly clattered to the ground before she fell forward, out of the tree. That was certainly enough to get Naruto moving as he raced across the clearing in a split second, catching Tayuya in both of his arms. He worriedly looked over her, noticing the bite mark that still bled as well as the tattoo-like tri-tomoe mark just behind it.

Tayuya was shaking in his arms, violently convulsing with her eyes screwed up in agony even though she was unconscious. Naruto just stared down at her helplessly, not even having the first clue on how to help his friend. He clutched her a bit closer to his chest and turned to stare at the man who had done this with murder flaming in his eyes. Orochimaru just seemed amused once again, if not slightly annoyed.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Orochimaru shrugged nonchalantly, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Really now, is that the thanks I get?" his smirk returned "If she survives think of it as a gift, the best she has ever received." His grin hid his irritation at the whole situation; he only had enough Chakra to place one curse mark every two days so it meant that Sasuke would have to wait. Orochimaru was patient however, he still had time and there would be other opportunities. Even though he was in deep thought he still dodged the fist of sand aimed his way.

Gaara had caught his bearings enough to renew his attack on the evil man before them, having seen what he did to Tayuya. For his part Orochimaru was finished here, he could not mark Sasuke yet and there was no sense just standing around toying with a bunch of snot-nosed genin. He took off and Gaara was about to run after him when he heard Naruto's desperate plea for help. His gaze only flickered once between the retreating sannin and his friend clutching his other friend to his chest before running over to offer what help he could.

What he saw was not good, Tayuya was pale, unnaturally so, and she was sporadically convulsing. Her eyes were screwed shut as if any light might blind her indefinitely and her hands were clenched into fists so tight she drew blood. Gaara looked down on her as helplessly as Naruto had, not knowing at all how he could possibly help her.

"We need to get her to the tower." Naruto stared blankly at him before the words set in and a determined mask slipped over his features. He gently lay the struggling girl down and immediately sprinted over to where Sasuke was still unconscious, propped up in the crater he had made impacting on the trunk. He searched through the boys pockets but growled in frustration when he couldn't find his scroll.

He turned angrily on the last conscious member of the Konoha team, the pink-haired kunoichi who had simply stared in awe and fear at the entire encounter.

"Where is your scroll?" The trembling girl turned to him, looking at him with slightly unfocused eyes so Naruto grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little until she snapped out of it. "Your scroll, where is it?"

"S-She... h-he ate i-it" he let go over her shoulders and grunted in frustration, his mouth curled into an irritated snarl as he rushed back to his other teammates. Tayuya was still in trouble so he quickly picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. He didn't like to treat her this way but he had no choice, he didn't know how much time he had. Gaara saw him pick the girl up and shoot off into the trees, close on his heels but due to Naruto's unfettered speed he was actually falling behind.

Naruto was just following his nose, right now he didn't care who it was; Konoha-nin, Sound-nin, hell even Temari's team, if they had an earth scroll then they were fair game. He sped towards the nearest scent, completely uncaring of who saw, heard or detected them, just wanting to get there. He broke out of the trees to see some rather surprised Leaf shinobi; it was the older ones that included the bespectacled, white-haired one.

He used their momentary surprise to lightly set Tayuya down and giving her one last worried look before turning around to stare down the three men. They didn't know what to make of an amazingly fast Genin popping out of the trees right on top of them without any way of signifying where he was from. All they saw was the nine engraved on his forehead protector, wondering briefly what that meant as they dropped into their respective fighting stances.

They didn't have to wait long to learn why when viscous orange chakra bubbled around Naruto's flesh, encircling him and cocooning him in a shroud of the boiling substance. Almost lazily a large tail bubbled out of the shroud as two flickering ears grew in a similar manner around his head. Naruto had been hunched over, staring at the ground through the whole process but when he looked up he caused all three of the ninja to falter slightly.

His blue eyes were gone, replaced by the ferocious and unforgiving red ones that looked hungrily at them with barely contained rage. His teeth were fangs, jutting out from his mouth enough to be seen when he had it closed. He was on all fours now but the Shinobi were back in their stances, preparing themselves for the attack. Unfortunately nothing could have prepared them from Naruto's unconstrained wrath.

He was there one second before with barely a flicker he vanished, instantly appearing behind one of the ninja's with the masks. Which? Right now in the heated moment Naruto couldn't care less as he rounded his body and delivered a kick directly to the man's temple. The chakra-infused blow sent the man careening away from him, what happened to him? Again Naruto didn't care. By the time the man's teammates looked around he had already vanished and reappeared behind the other masked one and performed the exact same manoeuvre, receiving the exact same results.

Kabuto didn't even bother to look around as he heard the other kick connect to his teammate's skull; instead he instantly diverted chakra to his hand, forming his deadly chakra scalpel. Without even hesitating he swung around, bringing the makeshift blade up in an arc, hitting Naruto square in the chest. The enraged jinchuuriki staggered back, even through his protective aura he felt that blow, one of his lungs had been punctured and a few arteries near his heart were severed.

He dropped to one knee, fist down on the ground; he already felt the damage being healed but Kabuto wasn't going to give him the time. He brought the scalpel back up to slice the boy's head clean from his shoulders; certain he wouldn't be able to regenerate that. His mouth curled into a smile eerily similar to that of his master's as the glowing green hand descended on unprotected flesh.

It would have worked had a shield of sand not appeared between his hand and the jinchuuriki. He turned to face the newcomer, his worst mistake to date as Naruto had finished recovering. His hand shot out through the sand which parted at his touch, only to wrap around the white-haired traitor's neck. Kabuto could feel the claws draw blood where they met his skin and winced from the pain. He was already diverting chakra in order to repair the wounds and breakdown the carbon dioxide in his lungs back into oxygen.

Naruto just tightened his grip on the man's neck; his chakra cloak was beginning to recede and he was thinking more clearly now. He let go when the man's eyes rolled back and his entire body went limp. He didn't even shoot a glance at Gaara as he approached the scene, instead routing through the man's pockets until he found what he was looking for. He triumphantly held up the earth scroll in his hand before rushing past a concerned Gaara to where Tayuya now lay motionless on the ground.

She had stopped convulsing and Naruto didn't know if that was good or bad. She was still breathing, at least that was good, although it was laboured and painful to just look at. Now out of his slightly crazed state of worry he took the time to carefully lift Tayuya into a bridal position so as not to aggravate her condition. He took off quickly in the direction of the tower, but this time at a pace that Gaara could match. The fate of the Konoha team or Kabuto's team was completely out of his mind now, all he cared about was getting Tayuya somewhere she could be helped.

At their pace they reached the tower in just under an hour, every animal that approached them was viciously and mercilessly smashed back by a wall of sand. This brought their total time to one hour and twenty-nine minutes, not that Naruto would even remotely care that they just smashed the previous record by over four hours. He crashed through the doors into the plain stone room, paying no attention to the large plaque hanging on the far wall.

Frantically he looked around for somebody, anybody to come to their aid, however there wasn't a soul in sight. He looked at the two scrolls, the damn things nearly cost Tayuya her life; he angrily threw them to the ground. By some miracle the two long pieces of paper unraveled and crossed over one another, the two half-seals completing each other. Naruto coughed from the mass of smoke that suddenly poofed into existence in front of him.

When it dissipated he noticed a smiling jounin standing in the middle of the seal, or at least he thought the man was smiling, the mask made it rather difficult to tell. All he had to go on was the closed eye curved upwards into a crescent and the slight creasing of the mask around his mouth. However the smile dropped when Kakashi noticed the condition of the redhead held in Naruto's arms.

He immediately rushed over, relieving Naruto of his obligation as he took the girl from his arms and laid her out on a bed in the corner of the room. Naruto didn't realise just how tired he was from that fight and the sprint to the tower until he felt Tayuya's body leave his arms. He may have had bucket loads of stamina but that didn't stop his body from feeling exhaustion when it happened. Using Kyuubi's chakra, despite having her permission, was still taxing on his body; his coils were still unused to the foreign chakra.

He did manage to stay awake though long enough to see Kakashi begin to draw out complicated patterns around the strange mark on Tayuya's shoulder. Past that Naruto couldn't remember as he felt his eyelids become heavier and heavier. His legs felt like lead and soon his body followed as he dropped to the ground like a stone.

* * *

Gaara paced the small room, his neutral face belying his concern for the two teenagers laid out on adjacent beds. He had been at this activity ever since Kakashi had finished sealing the Curse mark. Now aside from the three spiraling tomoe on her neck Tayuya had the makings of an intricate tribal tattoo. The strange and complicated circular seal wound around the original mark occasionally spiking out at six points.

Gaara hated looking at it, to him it was a reminder of how he had lost his focus and his friend had paid the price. With a sigh he looked across at Naruto, he knew the blonde too well and no matter how bad Gaara felt he knew that Naruto would feel much worse. It was almost as if Naruto had taken on personal responsibility for Tayuya, when he saw and understood what the bastard snake had done to her he would feel guilt followed by anger.

Gaara had asked Kakashi what he was doing at the time but he ignored the sand wielder. He required utmost concentration when performing the complex seal and had thought it better to tell them all when the others had woken up. This left Gaara in his current position, walking up and down the length of the small room until one of them awoke. At this rate he feared he was going to wear a trench into the floor and if he grew impatient enough he might just do that to take out some of his frustrations.

Luckily he was saved from lashing out with his Chakra-infused sand as he heard the sound he had been waiting for. Naruto groaned while rubbing his eyes as he sat up from the hard uncomfortable bed that had been provided. His first thought had been how strange it was to not wake up greeted by a curtain of red hair. The only times he and Tayuya wouldn't sleep together were on missions when they would have to take turns in the rotation of guard duty.

Of course these thoughts of Tayuya immediately reminded him of the events before he passed out and his head frantically snapped around to search the small room. He sighed in relief when he spotted the girl in the bed beside him and saw Gaara walking over, slight concern etched on his features as he made his own examination of his friend.

"How do you feel?" Naruto looked at him, smiling at the concern his friend so rarely showed.

"Fine, just a little sore." Gaara nodded, while it was uncommon due to their large Chakra capacities they both had felt the aching effects of Chakra exhaustion before. It was like somebody removing all of your blood only to reintroduce it very slowly. Naruto turned his attention back toward the person he was actually worried about. "How's Tayuya? Did we make it back in time? What about the mark? Is she going to be okay?" Gaara took a moment to process the rush of questions and allowed the blonde to calm down before answering.

"Tayuya is fine, merely unconscious. We made it in time for one of the Leaf jounin to perform some kind of counter-seal on the mark. I do not know the specifics of what he did but I expect that when Tayuya wakes up we will be informed. As for your last question..." he too took a look at his teammate/friend that lay peacefully on the worn grey sheets of the bed "...I do not know."

"I think I can help with that." The two Genin spun around at the unexpected voice; Naruto cursed himself, he had been so focused on Tayuya he had completely ignored everything else. Now that he was more alert he could clearly smell the presence of the Jounin that had just shunshined into the room.

"You!" Naruto pointed an accusatory finger at the silver-haired Jounin who gained an amused expression before pointing to himself.

"Me." He said it with his strange eye-smile that Naruto still couldn't quite work out; it made him curious about what was under the mask. Of course he shrugged off the thoughts as he had more important and pressing matters to attend to.

"Tayuya!" That was about as coherent a sentence as Naruto could manage at that moment, nevertheless Kakashi understood the sentiment. One would be crazy to say that Kakashi didn't understand concern for a teammate, crazy and masochistic.

"Your friend will be fine Naruto, calm down." Naruto did as the older shinobi asked, taking deep relaxing breaths until he felt he could actually speak properly. His mind completely skipped over the fact that Kakashi somehow knew his name despite the fact he never told the man.

"What's going to happen to her?" Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, or at least Naruto thought he did, the mask once again made it difficult to tell.

"I think it would be better to tell all of you once she wakes up. Don't worry though, that should be any time n-"

"Why the hell is my head on fucking fire?!" They all turned to stare shocked at Tayuya who was now sat up rubbing her shoulder right where the mark was. "Did that old bitch Chiyo convince me to drink sake again?" Naruto sighed relieved, although he was slightly concerned that Tayuya seemed to think she was still in the sand village. She shook her head and blinked a few times to allow the slight haze that was clouding her mind lift. She stared curiously around the room, looking at the faces of the three ninja staring at her in turn.

"What you fuckers looking at?" Then it all hit her, the encounter in the forest, Orochimaru, jumping in front of the Uchiha kid when the snaky prick was about to attack then... waking up here. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember how she got here but all she got was fleeting images of a forest rushing by below her and a burning in her neck. She absent-mindedly rubbed the spot, noticing the slightly silky feel of her skin in that area while turning to Naruto.

"Oi Shithead, what's going on?" Naruto just smiled broadly; glad to see that Tayuya hadn't changed at all despite everything that happened. Just as he opened his mouth to answer Kakashi cut in.

"I think it's best if I explain it." Naruto turned to him, looking like he still wanted to say something but he reconsidered and closed his mouth. "While you two were unconscious we found out about Orochimaru's infiltration of the exams. It would appear he placed what's known as a cursed mark on your friend Tayuya here and I-"

"Wait, hold up there Cyclops. What the fuck did you say?" Kakashi sighed, not so much because of the nickname, he had received worse, but because he had hoped to skirt around this subject.

"A Curse Mark. It is a type of Fuinjutsu that we believe Orochimaru developed to enhance his subordinates." He looked at Tayuya's face and realised that she wasn't fully satisfied by the answer. "If you want the full explanation ask Anko." She looked at him curiously, as did Naruto; both wondered what the eccentric proctor of the second exam had to do with this. "Anyway like I was _saying..." _He shot a look at Tayuya but she seemed wholly unrepentant causing the sharingan-user to sigh again "...I managed to seal the mark before any damaging effects could take hold." Tayuya shot her head up, her hand immediately moving to the mark on her neck.

"What damaging effects?!" Kakashi gave her an eye-smile, something that wasn't exactly comforting given the situation.

"Like I said there's nothing to worry about as long as you don't use the seal." Again Tayuya rounded on him angrily.

"I thought you said you sealed the fucking thing?" Kakashi dropped the smile, shocking the three Genin slightly with how serious he became.

"Not exactly, the seal I gave you merely neutralizes the corrupting aspect of the mark, the power and effect it has on you is still there. However use of the mark will override the seal allowing the mark its original corrupting capabilities back. The strength of the seal I placed is entirely reliant of your will not to use the mark. Should that will falter even momentarily the mark will begin to take a hold of you more and more." By this point both Tayuya and Naruto were very pale, they couldn't tell if Gaara had a similar reaction because he was always pale.

"Then get the fucking thing off of me!" Kakashi sighed for the third time.

"If it was that simple we would have already done so. However my knowledge of Fuinjutsu is limited, even then a sealing master would have difficulty without Orochimaru's original notes. The man was hailed as a genius of his time for many reasons and his ability to out-think his enemies was one of them. Even Master Jiraiya of the Sannin was unable to remove a cursed mark." Naruto, having listened through this whole conversation with growing dread and concern for his friend, finally found the will to speak.

"You're wrong!" Kakashi looked at him strangely, finding the outburst to be strangely familiar. "Tayuya will get though this, we always do together." Naruto just stared at Kakashi with pure determination etched across his features before turning to face Tayuya with all the care and comfort he could manage given the tense circumstances."I promise Tayuya I will help find a way to get that thing off of you." He stood up to his full height giving Tayuya his widest smile. "And you know me; I never go back on my promises"

Everybody stared at the blonde with mixed feelings; Tayuya outwardly looked irritated at the overly-passionate display whilst inside she was touched by his caring sentiment. Even after so long her cold nature was so deeply ingrained that she still found it nigh unbelievable that there could be people who cared for her so selflessly. Kakashi looked at the boy, seeing the Minato in him shine through before turning his attention to the redhead. _'Redhead... Why didn't I see it before? There really is a lot of you in your son Sensei.'_

"As touching as this moment is you have other things to worry about right now." Naruto, fresh from his impassioned speech turned to the man with a blank, confused look. "The next round of the Chuunin Exams is about to begin upstairs."


	15. Chapter 15

Naruto, Gaara, and Tayuya entered the large stone room after an unnecessarily long climb up to the top floor of the tower. It would make much more sense to hold the meeting lower down the large building. Both Naruto and Tayuya were grumbling thoughts consistent with this as they entered through the spacious doors whilst Gaara remained his impassive self. While he was complaining on the outside Naruto was much happier to see that Tayuya was just being herself and that the curse mark hadn't affected her.

They had been surprised when Kakashi told them that the exams were starting so soon considering this portion was supposed to last five days. Naruto and Tayuya had only been unconscious for a day but aparently half the Genin teams had already made it into the tower so they decided to just move right head. They joined the throng of other Genin who had passed this portion of the test and Naruto idly noticed that there couldn't have been more than six teams. With a slight panic he noticed that Temari and Kankuro were nowhere to be seen, this worried him greatly. He nudged Gaara who only nodded, obviously having noticed this fact himself.

"I would not worry, even if they failed in this portion of the exam they can handle themselves well enough." Naruto nodded slowly, trying to calm himself, but his thoughts were a bit wilder. He feared that perhaps Orochimaru had gotten to their friends; then again Kakashi had told them that they knew about him so the sannin would be foolish to stay. Even so he held onto his worries until Tayuya shot him a particularly peeved look.

"Stop sweating it Shithead. You know Temari, probably underestimated some shrimp of a Genin and paid for it." Naruto smiled, once again happy to see Tayuya acting like... Tayuya. Despite them sharing an almost sisterly bond there was always an inexplicable animosity between the two girls. Naruto had never understood why they were always so competitive with one another like they had been wronged in some other life. He had always just passed it off as a girl thing and moved on; at least it was a sign that things were still normal.

He glanced around the room as everybody formed up into rows, awaiting the Hokage and his speech. He checked out the other teams that had made it through curiously. Strangely enough there was the team that they had found Orochimaru attacking, all three members looked suitably haggard. More than anything else though the black-haired boy looked perpetually angered while the other male in the group shared the same stoicism as Gaara.

He also noticed the Sound team from before had made it through, not looking particularly troubled by it. There were a few of the Konoha teams as well, one with a tall bored-looking kid, a blonde girl with dazzling blue eyes, and a boy whose hands never seemed to be too far from food. There was also Hinata and Kiba's team which Naruto smiled at, he was glad they made it through. Finally there was a third Leaf team, one that seemed older than the rest but only slightly. It contained a tall boy with the same pale eyes as Hinata, possibly some relation, an equally tall boy with a shiny black bowl cut and amazingly bushy eye-brows, as well as a girl whose hair gave her the resemblance of a panda.

He was distracted from his musings as the Hokage finally appeared before the successful teams. He extended his arms as he spoke but Naruto wasn't really listening to what he said, still lost in his own thoughts over the events in the forest. He finally perked up when he heard their latest proctor finally chip in, a sickly looking man with pale skin and many bags under his eyes. He smirked at the resounding groans that echoed through the room as he explained the need for a preliminary round.

While it did seem somewhat unfair they were given no rest before these matches Naruto at least understood that in the field their enemies were not going to extend them such courtesies. Anyway, it was fair enough that the teams who had performed better and faster in the last rounds received more of a rest. He cold plainly see that teams like the Uchiha's were fairly worn out by their general appearance and attitude.

The proctor, Hayate, finished explaining the system for the matches and everybody looked up expectantly towards the name selection screen. 'Ino Yamanaka' clearly appeared and Naruto quickly worked out that this was the blonde girl he had noticed before from her dejected appearance. The order meant very little to him, if anything the sooner the better as even though the longer it lasted the more rest he would receive the same could be said for his opponent. Finally 'Sakura Haruno' appeared and everybody else retired from the arena to the catwalks on either side.

Naruto only stood to watch the two combatants momentarily as they squared off, noting with a semi-interested look that the pink-haired girl's hair was shorter than before. After that he moved to the back of the catwalk and sat down in a meditative position, blocking out the sights around him. He kept his senses of hearing and smell open and receptive for when his name was called but other than that he blocked everything out.

Tayuya smirked as she saw Naruto begin to meditate; he would always do this right before a fight if he got the chance. He tried to explain to her once that being in the right mindset could help you in a fight but she was more of an instinct fighter. Tactics came on the fly to her and that was how she liked it, anyway all that sitting still for ages crap really annoyed her. No, if she were to meditate it would only make her irritable, once Naruto had understood that he quickly stopped trying to teach her.

Gaara also noticed but said nothing, Tayuya eyed the quiet boy curiously; he seemed extra pensive recently. She didn't know if it was about her getting the curse mark, he tended to be a bit overprotective sometimes, or from meeting his father's murderer. Perhaps he was just being a moody git, she smirked at that, Gaara was always moody, well except for when he was around Naruto and her.

She decided to watch the first fight but quickly grew disinterested with the pansy display of skills the two supposed kunoichi were putting on. She wondered how they even passed their Genin exams; she chalked it up to Konoha making them easy. It made her smile thinking about those two going through the Suna Genin exams; it wasn't a pleasant smile. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the bored-looking kid eye her up, he masked it well but he was obviously trying to get a read on her and possibly her skills.

"See something you like pineapple head?" The boy averted his gaze with a scowl, muttering something Tayuya couldn't quite hear while his tubby friend just laughed at him. Tayuya plopped herself down next to Naruto, still calmly looking ahead with his eyes closed. She knew he could still hear her, in fact in this state he could probably hear everything in the room.

"He said 'what a drag'." Tayuya was startled as Naruto suddenly spoke up, still sitting perfectly still, although he briefly smirked.

"So fucking what? Like I care what some pussy Leaf nin says." Naruto didn't reply and Tayuya scowled, nevertheless she didn't move, in fact she scooted a bit closer to him. It was rather cold in the spacious room and once again Naruto was displaying his admirable qualities as her personal heater. Deciding there was once again nothing else to do she turned her attention back to the fight at hand, just in time to see the two Konoha nin knock each other out, resulting in a draw.

She looked on expectantly at the names board just like everybody else, except Naruto of course, to see if she was next up to fight. She hoped she would be soon as she just wanted to get it over and done with. The more challenging it was the better; it was always helpful to know where her weaknesses were. Thanks to Naruto she knew one of them was her Taijutsu although she had been improving that. Thanks to Gaara she also knew one was impenetrable, never-ending walls of sand, although she didn't think that would be a concern here.

She groaned when her name didn't show up, instead it was the pineapple haired boy who had been staring at her who she now knew to be called Shikamaru. Next up on the board was somebody called Kin Tsuchi, the female member of the Sound village's genin. She decided that this match might be more interesting than the last, she was curious to see these Sound-nin in action and this was her first chance.

* * *

"So what do you think of all this so far?" Naruto stared at the large fox in front of him who merely stared back with her large black eyes. Her long tails swished mesmerizingly slowly behind her lithe body, each like its own organism. Although it was unnecessary and Naruto knew it was some kind of illusion Kyuubi seemed to grow with him over the years. If such a thing existed she now looked more like a teenager, for a fox that is.

"**Concerning the exams or for your girlfriend?" **Naruto bit back his scathing retort knowing it would do him no good; Kyuubi was always trying to rile him up, Tayuya being a particularly used method to do so.

"Both." Kyuubi looked thoughtful for a moment, using one of her tails to scratch under her chin, imitating the way men with long beards might stroke their facial hair. Naruto stifled his laugh and waited patiently for her to come to some kind of opinion.

"**I'd say you performed sufficiently so far although you would do well not to underestimate anybody here." **Naruto nodded in an exasperated manner, it wasn't the first time he had received that advice. **"Other than that the encounter with this Orochimaru character seemed oddly coincidental." **Naruto looked at her curiously, waiting for her to continue, instead of doing so the large fox just lazily looked around the imaginary clearing.

"What do you mean?" Kyuubi looked up quickly but with a disinterested, lidded gaze that told him she was barely even paying attention.

"**Oh what?"** Naruto sighed but he saw the smirk that briefly graced Kyuubi's muzzle, it made her day to get under his skin and both of them knew it.

"Oddly coincidental... Orochimaru..." Kyuubi observed him for a moment with those same bored eyes before nodding slowly.

"**Yes well, I am merely pointing out that it was strange for you to encounter him again, especially when it would suit him better to keep anybody with the possibility of recognising him far away. He doesn't seem the type to make mistakes such as being unaware you were attending the exams." **Naruto absorbed the new information, having come to a similar conclusion on his own.

"So he wanted us to be there?" Kyuubi neither nodded nor shook her head, once again glancing around the clearing; no doubt looking for a rabbit or hare to chase.

"**Perhaps, perhaps not. I do not pretend to know the inner workings of the man but like I said he seems the type to have plans within plans. If I were to hazard a guess I would say he was gauging your abilities." **Naruto nodded slowly but his mouth was set to the side as he thought on it a moment.

"I don't know, he seemed mainly concerned with the Uchiha kid." It was Kyuubi's turn to nod.

"**Yes, obviously the intended target of that cursed mark." **Naruto scowled at hearing that, it wasn't really the Uchiha's fault that Tayuya received the mark but he was the one she had been defending.

"What do you know about that by the way?"

**"The mark?" **Naruto nodded his agreement and Kyuubi took to her thoughtful stance, once again using her tail to imitate the hilarious action. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle despite the serious nature of their conversation. **"Less than I would like to admit, the human practise of Fuinjutsu always confounded me..." **She looked irritated as she stared off to one side of the clearing **"...perhaps if I paid more attention I would not be in this situation with you eh Kit?" **Naruto just shrugged, Kyuubi's sealing by the fourth was always a sore topic.

"So there's nothing you can do to help Tayuya?" Kyuubi shook her head although Naruto noticed there wasn't much remorse in the action. Suddenly he cringed a little, hearing the dull thump through his extended senses as the Sound nin's head impacted painfully with the wall of the arena. Both Kyuubi and Naruto waited a moment to hear who would be next, it was somebody named Zaku Abumi and Shino Aburame.

* * *

Tayuya was boredly banging her head against the wall she was leaning against. The second match had been somewhat interesting; she didn't know that there were jutsus to control people's shadows. However after that they had gotten increasingly lame; the bug user had ended his match fairly quickly then the fat kid had been knocked out in seconds by the Dosu guy. She was suddenly startled as Naruto stood up from his seated position, stretching out his limbs and rolling his neck once.

"So what'd she say?" Naruto looked down at her, trying to hide the amusement from his face, she looked a lot more shy than usual. He helped her up with a hand and noticed that she held onto it for a few seconds after she was standing.

"Sorry, Kyuubi didn't know anything about it." She looked down, both saddened and annoyed by the news and he lightly tugged her chin back up to face him. "Hey, you know I meant it when I said I was going to find a way to get that thing off of you right?" Her eyes narrowed briefly and he thought she was just going to slug him. She relaxed however and looked away, forcing his hand away from her chin and hiding the slight blush that had spread to her cheeks.

"Whatever." Naruto was about to drive his point home when he heard an excited squeak coming from his left. He looked over to see that Hinata's name had come up on the selection board, followed by a Neji Hyuuga; at least he was right about the relation. Tayuya was already moving away from him to go and stand by Gaara; she was obviously annoyed that Kyuubi couldn't help so he gave her time to calm down.

He turned to watch the two Hyuugas down on the arena floor, deciding that this match might at least be interesting. They eyed each other, quite literally, with their kekkei genkai activated; each was examining the other for some kind of weakness. Then, through an unspoken agreement, it started; it was so sudden that one might have completely missed it if they blinked. Both threw themselves forward with their hands darting backwards and forwards in well-rehearsed katas.

Naruto quickly realised that both of them had the exact same fighting style, a strange non-impacting style that seemed to work off of lightning-fast glancing blows. Blue light briefly flared after each of their attacks and whilst neither of them seemed to actually land a single hit Naruto intrinsically knew that even one of those blows could potentially be deadly. He looked around, momentarily taking his attention off of the dance-like fight until he spotted the strangely dressed woman from before.

"You're Hinata's sensei am I right?" The dark haired woman looked down at him with her startling red eyes, merely looking at him curiously.

"Yes, I am Kurenai Yuhi." Naruto nodded politely and the woman smiled out of the corner of her mouth.

"Could you explain their style? I understand that it works off of some kind of chakra manipulation but other than that..." He left the sentence trailing, showing his lack of knowledge on the subject. Kurenai merely smirked, always happy to inform somebody of her prized student's abilities.

"It is called the Gentle Fist, it is their family style relying on their Byakugan." Once again Naruto nodded, familiar with the ability, few ninja weren't familiarised with the impressive dojutsu. "Their ability to see the chakra network of their opponent allows them to see and attack the specific tenketsu in their body, blocking them if need be with precise chakra infused blows." Naruto smiled, looking down at the display of deadly yet beautiful force the two genin were putting on.

"Eight trigrams thirty-two palms!" The cry rang out across the arena and Naruto pulled his full attention back towards the fight, as did Kurenai. He turned in time to see Hinata rush at Neji with her hands a blur. After each attempted blow she would call out a number, doubling it each time until she reached thirty-two. Neji did his best to defend against the blows but they came startlingly fast. A few broke through his defences and with each one it was plain he was weakening.

"Rotation!" The call was equally loud as Hinata's own and before she could land even one of the last thirty-two strikes Neji erupted into a sphere of spinning chakra. Unfortunately Hinata was close, about to land her blows in, and was caught up in the defence/attack. She was struck harshly by the eruption of chakra and was sent hurtling back across the arena to impact with the concrete wall with a thud.

Naruto watched on with wide eyes, the last attack astounded him and he instantly wondered how Neji performed it. When the sphere of blue light finally died down and Neji looked across the room to see that Hinata was not getting up he smirked.

"While your Juuken is impressive cousin you should know better than to think you could defeat me. We all have our fates and yours was to be defeated here by me." He practically spat the words at the girl making Naruto furrow his brow. He wondered how the boy could be so cold to his own family. Deep down Naruto knew that he should be thankful he even had a family but he ignored the depressing thoughts that would surely follow.

He looked back over the fight and smiled inwardly, despite losing Hinata had fought with ferocity and determination. It seemed that what she had told him about stepping up her training was true. Briefly it warmed him to think that he had something to do with that, even if he didn't even know it at the time. It also made him wonder just what she might be like if he had never left, if she would still have this level of ability or natural confidence and determination. It was just one of those things he would never know, not that he regretted the choice in the slightest; he smiled while looking at Tayuya and Gaara.

He turned his attention up to the board to see who the next fighters would be; despite his calm outwards appearance he was becoming slightly agitated that he had not yet come up. Once again he was disappointed as 'Sasuke Uchiha' and 'Kiba Inuzuka' flashed across the screen. However a smirk managed to grace his lips, he was curious to see how Kiba fought and wondered how it would compare to the display of Taijutsu he had seen from Sasuke in the forest.

The two fighters jumped down into the arena, one looking a mix between annoyance and indifference and the other excitement and confidence. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the display of cockiness Kiba put on to further irritate the Uchiha, he only hoped that he had the skills to back up his comments. At least Naruto knew who he was rooting for in this fight while at the same time he would be analysing both fighters. He knew that if he survived this round he might face the winner of this match.

There was none of the quiet contemplation and sizing up the two Hyuugas had used when Hayate jumped backwards. Sasuke immediately launched himself at Kiba, a flurry of fists that the Inuzuka seemed actually strained to dodge. Eventually he received a moment of respite when he slid underneath Sasuke's legs; it gave him enough time to pull off his clan's man-beast clone. Immediately the canine-esque boy was on the offensive however Sasuke seemed competent enough taking on two opponents as he was at fighting one.

Even so, he was given no room to counter the blazingly fast strikes that came in perfect tandem from Kiba and Akamaru. This continued for roughly a minute with Sasuke perfectly defending himself and the Kiba twins launching blinding attacks one after the other. Naruto saw the shift in the battle as soon as it happened; Kiba took a moment to rest after so many strenuous attacks. Sasuke immediately took advantage of the respite and with a few quick hand seals he let loose a cascade of fire from his lungs.

Everybody looked on, slightly awed that a genin had enough chakra and skill to actually use the fireball jutsu. Naruto also looked towards the end of the room that was now veiled in smoke, worried for the boy inside.

"FANG OVER FANG!" Naruto let out a barely perceptible sigh as both Kiba and Akamaru erupted from the smoke, spinning like drill heads. Sasuke only dodged in time to avoid losing an arm from the sudden and ferocious attack, as it was he lost some of the fabric from his shirt. He sprang out from his tucked roll only to immediately dodge again as the two spinning Inuzukas ricocheted off of any surface they encountered, right back at the now hard-pressed Uchiha.

Naruto watched in genuine interest as the room soon became a battlefield from the surprisingly effective combo attack. Anywhere they struck would receive a small crater that only began to tell of how painful the attack would be if it hit home. Unfortunately it seemed it was either a strenuous or chakra-consuming attack as both Kiba and Akamaru stopped after about thirty seconds. Both of them looked as tired as the other but there was still the determined spark in their eyes.

Sasuke didn't look much better, Kiba had scored a few glancing blows and with the violent rotations of his attack that meant a few cuts had appeared. Sasuke for his part merely looked annoyed at the whole experience, not losing his confident stance for a moment. Before either of them received any rest he once again launched himself at the tired Inuzuka engaging him in relentless Taijutsu. Kiba held his own but it was painfully obvious that he was tiring, quickly, and would last much longer.

The instrumental moment came as he left his defences open for just a moment and Sasuke delivered a vicious kick to his side. Sasuke winded Kiba long enough to follow up with a few punches and another spinning kick to the jaw. At this point Kiba was barely standing and the only thing that saved him from being smashed across the room was Sasuke suddenly wincing in pain. Everybody was confused at the outcry until they looked down and saw Akamaru firmly fastened on Sasuke's leg, blood dripping from where tooth met skin.

Sasuke sneered at the pup in anger and lashed out with his other foot, sending the ninken flying across the room to impact with the wall with a sickening crunch. Kiba's eyes shot open from his position across from Sasuke.

"Akamaru!" He was about to run across to where his dog lay on the ground underneath the small crater in the wall he had made but Sasuke beat him to it. Seeing that the Inuzuka was about to make a move Sasuke quickly finished him off with a curt but painful kick to the back of the head. Kiba slumped with a dull thud to the ground, unconscious. Sasuke seemed quite pleased with himself at his victory while Naruto couldn't have been angrier. He launched himself over the railing down to the floor to stand across from the smirking Uchiha, fists already balled up.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Sasuke turned to him, annoyance and slight confusion on his features at the seething Shinobi across from him.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto's mouth twisted into a snarl.

"He wasn't attacking you, he was just going to see if his partner was okay." Sasuke only spared a bored glancing look between the knocked out dog and his equally unconscious partner before shrugging carelessly.

"Whatever." Naruto was honestly about to slug him right in his pretentious jaw before he felt a hand grab his fist, holding it back. He turned angrily only to see Tayuya looking at him sternly.

"We don't have time for this Naruto. Mutt and his dog will be fine, just leave it." Naruto was so caught off guard by Tayuya actually using his name that he let her lead him across the room before he tore his hand out of her grasp. He moved away from her and she was about to go and get him again, fearing that he would start a fight with the Uchiha. She let him go when she saw where he was actually going.

Naruto jogged over to where Akamaru lay limply on the ground and carefully picked the small dog up. It moved in its sleep, nestling into Naruto's arms as he walked across the concrete arena to where the paramedics were just lifting Kiba onto a stretcher. The medics were wary about letting Naruto approach their patient but all he did was carefully place Akamaru on the unconscious boy's chest before walking back up into the viewing area with Tayuya. At least he would have if her name hadn't been the next to appear on the selection screen.

"Huh, well I'll see you in a few seconds then Shithead" She grinned at him cockily and he smiled back, momentarily forgetting the anger Sasuke had caused him. She walked back out into the arena while Naruto carried on up the stairs, both of their eyes glued on the screen for the next opponent.

"YES! I will make you proud in this fight Gai-sensei!" Naruto looked across at the strange spandex-wearing boy from before, Tayuya's next opponent.

"I know you will make me proud Lee, let your youth burn bright!" Naruto wasn't sure whether or not to be appalled or amused as the larger version of the kid he now knew to be called Lee punched his student down into the arena for writing his words down in a small notebook. Tayuya seemed equally wierded out by the whole affair, cautiously dropping into a Taijutsu stance in case it was all a ruse to make her lower her guard.

Taijutsu wasn't exactly her specialty but it would do well to get a feel for her opponent's abilities. Lee seemed to get over a small crying fit his sensei caused and turned to face his latest opponent.

"Yosh! Truly I have found a most beautiful and fair challenger this day!" Everybody's jaws dropped down a few centimetres as Lee seemed to merely flicker a moment before appearing right next to Tayuya, a goofy smile on his face. "Will you be my girlfriend?!" Naruto winced even before Tayuya placed her foot squarely in Lee's face. He was across the room in milliseconds, deepening the crater Akamaru had made only a few minutes before.

"What the fuck are you talking about shit for brains!?" Lee climbed out of the very human-shaped crater he had formed, seemingly completely unscathed by the brutal attack.

"WOW! You burn with a youthful passion I have never seen before! Very well then we shall fight instead!" By now Tayuya was incredibly freaked out by this obviously brain-damaged kid but she knew one thing, she was going to kick his ass for embarrassing her like that. Hayate didn't even have to start the match with his signal before Tayuya was sprinting across the room, determined to get a few more blows in on the bowl-cut's empty head. At least she would have done if he hadn't expertly dodged every single one of her blows without even breaking a sweat.

"Ah, you fight with as much passion as you speak! Yosh you truly are a worthy foe!" Tayuya's scowl merely deepened as he continued to dodge and weave through every punch or kick she sent his way. Normally that wouldn't have been aggravating, even Tayuya knew there were people that vastly outclassed her in Taijutsu. What really got to her was the fact that Lee had his hands firmly clasped behind his back the entire time. He didn't even make a single move to counter attack or go on the offensive.

"Why aren't you attacking shithead!?" Lee performed a graceful flip away from Tayuya, landing a few feet away, looking at her curiously.

"I do not understand. It would be against my code to harm such a beautiful and youthful woman!" Tayuya just stared at him wide-eyed, her mouth hanging slightly open; as was Naruto's who somehow knew the was going to be on the receiving end of Tayuya's anger after this was done.

"What the fuck are you talking about? How are you supposed to defeat me if you aren't even going to attack?!" Lee seemed thoughtful on her question, actually bringing a hand up to his chin to contemplate the answer. Tayuya tried to take advantage of his momentary distraction with another assault but he once again weaved and ducked all of her blows. While her Taijutsu wasn't exemplary it was still well above average, years of fighting Naruto had seen to that, so it was like a slight on her skills that Lee wasn't even trying to fight her.

"That's it, screw this!" Tayuya jumped back from the engagement, already bringing her hand around to the red leather pouch she kept at the back of her belt. Before she could bring out what was inside Lee had disappeared again and Tayuya whipped around, expecting him to appear behind her. She was still uncertain about this moral code of his; it didn't seem like a very smart idea for a shinobi to have. Your enemy wouldn't care what you considered right or wrong so it was foolish to base your fighting style on that. Suddenly she felt pressure on her wrists and before she knew it her arms were bound by an entire roll of ninja wire. Lee stepped back, admiring his work with gleaming smile, literally.

"Yosh! I did it!" he turned away from Tayuya to stare up at the spectator area where more than a few people were staring at the entire scene with incredulity. "Have I made you proud Gai-sensei!" the larger version of Lee with the same jumpsuit, hair, leg warmers, eyebrows and smile bounded down from the catwalk to stand across from his student.

"Truly an impressive match Lee. You upheld your moral code and the honour of this young lady" He extended a thumbs up to the now slightly crying teen before leading him away from the scene. Tayuya was just left standing there with her arms tightly bound, staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"What the fuck happened?! SHITHEAD! GET ME OUT OF THIS WIRE! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" She took a step forward to run at the retreating forms of Lee and Gai only to fall flat on her face, not realising that her legs had been bound without her even realising. Naruto jumped down onto the arena floor once again, walking over to Tayuya while desperately trying to wipe of the smirk that graced his features. Tayuya stared up at him, obviously livid at being treated in such a way.

"Shithead if you don't get me out of this wire in five seconds I'll-" Naruto knew this would come back to bite him on the ass but he just couldn't help it.

"Ah ah ah Tayuya-chan, you forgot the magic words." Tayuya's eyes briefly opened shockingly wide before the right one began to twitch uncontrollably. Naruto could actually see the large vein throbbing on her forehead and the slight reddish tinge that encroached her face. Without any more delay he pulled out a kunai and swiftly cut the wire from her legs and arms. He jumped back; terrified of Tayuya's reaction now that she was free.

After a few seconds he opened one eye a crack only to see a sight that would haunt him for many nights to come. Tayuya was standing there... smiling. Naruto was frozen solid as she sauntered over, lightly brushing his side as she moved past him.

"Why thank you Naruto." The jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox had never nor ever would be more terrified than he was at that exact moment. He didn't have long to dwell on all of the terrible monstrous things Tayuya surely had planned for him before the next set of names appeared on the screen. He took tentative steps back to the spectator zone even as Tenten gracefully flipped down into the arena, shortly followed by Gaara in his personalised sand shunshin.


	16. Chapter 16

Naruto stayed away from Tayuya when he got up into the viewing area, making sure to keep Lee in between him and her at all times. He figured she might take out some of her anger on Lee before she eventually got to him; honourable... no, potentially life saving... maybe. However she continued to confuse him by acting okay with the whole thing, continuing to send him smiles that chilled him to his very core. This was almost as bad as the punishment she was no doubt concocting right at that very moment.

He tried to take his mind off of it and turned his attention to the fight at hand, only to see exactly what he expected. Gaara was wiping the floor with Tenten, almost literally. His various sand-fuelled attacks would send the older girl skidding across the arena floor. She would try and counter with impressive displays of aerial and ranged combat but ultimately it was useless. No matter how good her aim was, all of the multitude of weapons she threw merely embedded in or bounced off of Gaara's sand defence. Perfect aim meant nothing if something intercepted the attack.

Eventually, however impossible it may have seemed, the girl ran out of weapons. In this situation she may have resorted to Taijutsu or maybe Ninjutsu if the situation called for it but she managed to show great intelligence and humility by forfeiting the match. By this point Naruto was practically squirming under the psychological torture Tayuya was putting him through. He couldn't take it anymore and was already walking towards her before he really even knew what his legs were doing.

"Please Tayuya. I'm sorry so just get it over with! Stop torturing me like this!" Tayuya just smirked at him, finally dropping the sickly-sweet smile as she casually pointed to the selection board. If Naruto had been slightly more coherent he would have realised that sixteen competitors had already fought, leaving only him and the last member of Hinata's team. He groaned as Tayuya smirked again, motioning with her eyes to the arena floor where the other boy had already made his way to.

He sighed wearily, at least the fight would take his mind off of Tayuya for a while, he hoped. He was grumbling something incoherent as he jumped down to the floor of the arena in a fluid movement that broke the impact of the drop. He walked over to the other kid, still mumbling under his breath before he was at the required distance away from his new opponent. He looked up and reaffirmed his earlier assessment of the kid; average.

There just wasn't anything remarkable about this kid whatsoever; average brown hair, average clothes, average height and build for a shinobi. It was like he was so average that it was a feature in of itself, unnervingly enough he even smelt average, just with a hint of damp earth. He sighed and rolled his neck, hopefully that meant his skills were average as well. The other boy seemed to size him up as well, running his eyes over Naruto's ready stance and bored, distracted expression.

"Hey kid what's your name?" Naruto seemed to catch Mr. Average off with the remark.

"Huh?" Naruto smirked; it was always so fun playing with people.

"Your name. That thing people use to refer to you. What. Is. It?" He spoke slowly as if speaking to a simpleton and that only seemed to enrage the boy before him.

"What the hell is it to you?" Naruto smirked again; he was playing right into his hands.

"I have a list of all the people I wipe the floor with and I like to use names instead of descriptions." Once again the other boy just got angrier with the comment.

"Hibiki Saito! Add that to your new list of people who kicked your ass!" Naruto smiled broadly, he couldn't help it; seeing the other combatant so riled up was just brilliant. Not only would it knock off his focus it would also serve to amuse Naruto as the fight progressed. What could he say, more than a few of Kyuubi's traits rubbed off on him and Naruto like to play with his food.

Naruto's smirk immediately dropped from his face as soon as Hayate jumped backwards, initiating combat. Neither of them moved and that might have annoyed Naruto if he wasn't as patient as he was. He had hoped to provoke Hibiki enough to make him initiate but it wasn't a total loss, now at least he had the opening move. He quickly channelled chakra to his hands and the seals there that quickly appeared on his skin.

Instantly a kunai appeared in each of his hands and were quickly thrown in Hibiki's direction. Naruto furrowed his brow when Hibiki merely seemed to blur for a moment and the kunai that would have hit his head and heart respectively merely passed through him. Instantly Naruto thought clone and whirled around, only for there to be nobody there. He carefully turned back around, not letting Hibiki out of his line of sight. The supposed clone smelt like him, clones weren't usually that accurate.

Just to check Naruto once again channelled Chakra through his hands and into the seals on his wrists. Six more kunai were ejected and after each appeared he threw them, perfectly on target. Each one merely passed through Hibiki as he continued to look amused at the display. Naruto gave his own smirk, not letting his opponent know that he was frustrated by this new turn of affairs. This time he activated a slightly different seal and another kunai popped out into his hand.

This time he threw lower; the kunai still passed through Hibiki but it embedded itself in the concrete a few metres behind him. The other boy only heard the hissing in time to throw himself out of the way of the blast the exploding tag made. Naruto smiled broadly; at least he knew it definitely wasn't some kind of clone. His eyes opened wide at remembering something Tayuya had once told him about Genjutsus and immediately clasped his hands together.

"KAI!" He watch Hibiki get to his feet on the other side of the arena and laugh in a mocking fashion in Naruto's direction.

"No it isn't a Genjutsu, merely an ability of mine." Naruto waited for him to elaborate, when he didn't Naruto dropped down into his Taijutsu stance, down on all fours much like the Inuzuka style. Hibiki also dropped into a more traditional stance with his legs spread for maximum balance and stability. Naruto rushed him, causing the other boy to momentarily gawk at how fast the blonde came at him only to recover at the last second and blur.

Naruto's fist passed straight through the other boy but he didn't stop there. As soon as one of his hands met the ground he used his hidden claws to pivot on a dime and send a vicious kick Hibiki's way. Once again the boy merely performed that irritating blur and Naruto passed right through him. Naruto was beginning to piece together what was happening but needed one more test just to be sure.

For a final time he spun on the ground, this time staying upright on his hands like an acrobat. He used his legs like a normal fighter used their arms and lashed out in very punch-like motions. Each time he normally would have made contact Hibiki just did that irritating blur. At least he did until Naruto suddenly stopped one of his kicks while it was still occupying the same space the Hibiki's head should have.

He felt a satisfying smack on his leg that sent Hibiki reeling away from him, clutching the side of his head in pain. Naruto gracefully jumped up from his walking handstand to look across at the now much angrier Leaf nin. He had at least confirmed his suspicions then.

"So it's some kind of vibration." It was more a comment that a question but Hibiki nodded, his eyes still burning at Naruto.

"Yeah that's right, I can expel chakra from my tenketsu on either side of my body, moving myself enough to dodge blows and weapons." His eyes narrowed as his mouth once again molded into a sneering smile. "It also has other uses too." Hibiki suddenly rushed Naruto, flipping the tables on him to invert how their match had begun. Naruto was now on the receiving end of a volley of quick and precise punches, he dodged them fairly easily but he quickly saw the problem when he blocked an uppercut with his forearm.

He flinched from the contact and had to jump back a few feet to see why his arm now suddenly hurt so much. He rolled up his sleeve while still moving back from Hibiki only to see a large red welt on his arm that resembled a friction burn.

"Yeah, like I said it has other uses. I can use the tenketsu on my arms to vibrate them so fast I can literally burn you as I hit you." Naruto tried to keep the emotion out of his face but it was growing difficult to hide his frustration at this fight. He couldn't use thrown weapons, conventional attacks and now even blocking was out. He didn't want to use any of his heavy hitters this early on in the exams, there needed to be some mystery later on in the matches to ensure his promotion.

Okay, maybe he could let one go but how was he supposed to use it? There was some rubble lying around from Kiba and Sasuke's fight, yes that might work, now to get Hibiki into a situation where- he was cut off from his planning as his opponent chose that time to suddenly begin attacking him again. Naruto was now rather hard pressed; all he could do was dodge and occasionally counter attack when he could. Of course all of his own attacks merely passed through the irritating boy.

Hibiki had learned from his mistake, now when Naruto stopped his punches and kicks mid-way he would not only blur but dodge as well. Naruto though that he might be able to simply outlast the other boy, his enormous chakra reserves might allow it. He threw that plan out quickly, for this boy to eject chakra out of his tenketsu in the amounts he was using he must have his own large supply, even if Naruto's was bigger the match would still be a long one. The longer it went on the more likely he was to make a mistake that Hibiki would capitalize on; no this needed to end soon.

Of course fate was in an argumentative mood that day so Hibiki chose that moment to reveal yet another use for that handy-dandy chakra expulsion. One minute Naruto was fighting and dodging relentless attacks from one Hibiki, the next thing he knew there were two. Of course his natural reaction was clone but when they both started attacking him in tandem and he could actually feel the air move from both their punches he treated them both as real.

He jumped back for some respite, not that he showed he was taking a breather with his confident stance and determined look. It was then that he noticed the blur both Hibiki's possessed and it clicked. His eyes narrowed while Hibiki's opened in amusement and mock innocence.

"Oh you only just worked it out?" Naruto snarled a little at the mocking question. "Use number three, I can vibrate my entire body between two places, effectively doubling myself." As if to demonstrate the blurs on both boys became more pronounced as they seemed to merge back into one Hibiki. "Pretty useful when facing multiple opponents or even just to corner one if I do say so myself." Hibiki's cocky and victorious look turned into one of frustration as he finally noticed Naruto's smile.

Naruto started laughing; a chuckle at first but it quickly became louder making Hibiki sneer from pure irritation. He half-thought that one of his blows had connected and he had knocked a few of Naruto's bolts loose. Eventually the blonde settled down and looked across at his opponent, a large grin still plastered on his face.

"You know that's an awful lot of trouble to go through to double yourself." Hibiki's irritated look turned into one of confusion as Naruto straightened himself out. "Here, I'm in a good mood today so I'm going to teach you a better way." Hibiki continued to look frustrated and puzzled at the 'lesson' Naruto was giving him. He was so focused that he completely missed the piece of rubble behind him silently henge back into a perfect clone of Naruto.

"They're called shadow clones." With that the Naruto behind Hibiki thrust out his fist and punched the other boy squarely in the back of his head, knocking him out cold. The original Naruto smiled and walked over to his counterpart, they shared a high-five before walking back to the spectator area with their arms wrapped around the other's shoulder. Everybody was looking at him, shocked at first then curious. The senseis and higher level jonin were especially riveted to him, wondering how a mere Genin was able to learn such a high-ranked and Chakra consuming jutsu.

Of course Naruto's good mood immediately evaporated as soon as he emerged from the stairs to see Tayuya smiling at him. The shadow clone dispersed and the real Naruto secretly wished that he could vanish like that, well he could but that wasn't the point. Luckily he was saved from anything Tayuya wanted to do. The winners of the matches were called down into the arena to discuss the placements for the real finals.

The Sandaime Hokage and Hayate explained to them about the matches one month from now and their placement. The first match would be Naruto vs. Neji followed by Shino vs. Dosu; that would be one side of the bracket. The other side would be Shikamaru vs. Lee followed by Sasuke vs. Gaara. The winners of each match would then fight one another until it was just two combatants, one from each side of the brackets.

Naruto did some of the work in his head; that meant he would fight Neji, then Dosu or Shino followed by whoever won on the other side of the bracket. He smirked, that would be Gaara there was little doubt about that and he was glad. It would suck to have to fight Gaara earlier on; it would mean less of a chance to show off their skills. He was sad that Tayuya wouldn't progress but there were exams every six months so she would get another shot soon enough.

Luckily other hidden villages weren't quite so team-oriented with their Chuunin selection, it meant that Tayuya could go at it alone. Gaara and Naruto would be Chuunin themselves by then so they couldn't help her even if they wanted to. He smiled as the finalists dispersed, all ready to train for a month in preparation for their next fights. He gave one last look at all his potential opponents, as that was what they were, in the end he could end up fighting any one of them.

However for now Neji was his main focus, he would need to find a way around his juuken attacks and that rotation move he had seen. He figured he could talk to Hinata about that, she would understand his style better than most. As for the rotation he was going to have to do some sparring with Gaara, if anybody understood an ultimate impenetrable defence it was him. Next on the list was Dosu, the sound attacks from his gauntlet were the priority, Naruto would have to damage it immediately.

Shino may prove more difficult, he didn't fully understand how his bugs worked so that was another thing he was going to have to find out. Lee was a simple one, a generic Taijutsu master that would be fairly easy to overcome as long as he didn't have any tricks up his sleeves. Shikamaru was the mystery of the other bracket, Naruto guessed he was the tactician sort but with only those shadow jutsu to back him up his arsenal was hardly varied. Finally there was Sasuke; then again Naruto didn't have to worry about him much as he would be Gaara's first opponent.

He smirked to himself as he and Gaara rejoined Tayuya, this time Naruto averted his gaze from the redhead, knowing that she couldn't unnerve him with that smile if he couldn't see it. Even so he could feel her gaze boring into the back of his head as he walked and it was becoming unbearable. He managed to stay silent until all three of them were out of the Forest of Death and were on their way back to the Inuzuka compound. He didn't know how but he could feel that Tayuya hadn't stopped looking at him the entire way back. Finally he crumbled and turned suddenly, once again cringing at the sight of Tayuya's smile.

"Okay I'm sorry Tayuya, I promise I will make it up to you I swear!" He quickly turned back around and dashed off in the direction of the Inuzuka compound leaving behind a startled but pleased Tayuya and a bemused Gaara.

"You enjoy manipulating him like that don't you." It wasn't really a question but Tayuya smiled anyway.

"Yup." Gaara just looked at her, his own smirk beginning to develop.

"You know some people would call that sadism?" Tayuya beamed at him like he had given her the best compliment imaginable before she stuck her tongue out childishly and sprinted off after Naruto. Gaara just sighed but his smile didn't diminish, Naruto wasn't the only one glad to see that Tayuya had come out of the whole affair in the forest unchanged. With the faint smile still set on his face he too ran off after the two fleeting forms of his friends.

* * *

A haunting melody drifted throughout the Inuzuka compound, many of the ninken and their handlers paused at the unfamiliar sound. They turned their heads trying to find the source but the music bounced off too many surfaces making it almost untraceable. Naruto didn't need to trace it, he already knew where Tayuya would be. She always chose the same kind of spots to practise and play in, usually tall trees.

He rounded the side of the house they were staying in to the tree where he did pull ups in the mornings. Sure enough there she was, sat up in the highest stable bough of the tree with the thin metal flute balanced delicately in her hands as her nimble fingers danced across the air holes. The melody was long and drawn out, mournful yet not entirely sad keeping him riveted as he merely stood and listened to the beautiful tune.

* * *

_Naruto couldn't believe he had agreed to let Tayuya drag him around all day; he wasn't exactly sure what he had done but for this kind of punishment it must have been something bad. It was a scorching day in Suna, even the most weather-hardened of the natives were preferring to spend the day inside. As it was Naruto had no such luxury as he traipsed after Tayuya with a bundle of clothes acting as his 'repayment' for the wrong._

_He had tried to get Gaara to come as well but the reserved sand-wielder had merely looked at him like he was crazy. Nowadays Gaara used times like these for long, enjoyable lie-ins. They had only been residents of Suna for two years and Gaara's relationship with Shukaku fixed for less so but Naruto and Tayuya already knew the winding streets like the backs of their hands. The used this to their advantage as they walked through the most shaded areas of the streets and alleyways that would provide the most protection on a day like this._

_Tayuya may not have been girly in the traditional sense of the word but she was still a girl, as such most of the shops they visited were for clothes. Naruto normally would have been fine with that, clothes shopping wasn't so bad, it was just the fact that half the time they wouldn't even buy anything. Even so, and Naruto would happily admit it if asked, he did enjoy the time with Tayuya; recently the two non-Wind county natives hadn't much time alone with each other._

_Again that wasn't something Naruto minded all that much, in the few years they had known Gaara he had grown into a fast friend. However Naruto almost missed the days when it was just him and Tayuya together, he genuinely enjoyed her company. It didn't help at all that Temari would tease them to no end about their sleeping arrangement. It still frustrated Naruto that people would even bring it up; after all it was private between them and he didn't even see what the problem was._

_He was cut out from his own thoughts when he realised that Tayuya's hand had slipped out from his own. He briefly panicked only to sigh in relief when he saw she was just gazing into a store front off to his left. He wandered over and peaked into the store over her shoulder, looking at the strange devices and shapes that were inside. Most were made out of gleaming metals in various shades of either bronze or silver but a few were wooden._

_He looked up at the store name hanging over the door; it proudly read 'Instruments of Wind'. Naruto didn't get the pun as he looked over the variety of musical instruments that adorned the various shelves and racks. He could see more that a few stringed instruments which only confused him concerning the name. He made a move to see if Tayuya wanted to move on only to turn and see that she had vanished again._

_He spun around only to catch a glimpse of vibrant red hair now inside the store. When he followed her in she was standing by a display case looking down at the various metal flutes that lay inside. She possessed a look that Naruto had never seen on Tayuya's features before, if he didn't know any better he might have said it was awe. He looked over her shoulder at the flutes, not really understanding why she looked that way; music had never particularly interested him before._

"_She had one just like it." Tayuya shocked him by whispering the words almost reverently, a tone she never used in really any situation._

"_Who?" Tayuya jumped a little, as if she hadn't actually expected anybody to be next to her, never mind answer her whispered revelation. When she saw it was just Naruto she relaxed visibly but bit her lip, she only did that when she was unsure about talking about her past. While they had certainly grown closer over time there were things that they both still kept to themselves, especially concerning their pasts._

"_Back in Earth country there was this... this woman" Naruto could tell this was difficult to talk about for her and unconsciously moved his hand to hold hers. She was slightly confused by the gesture but appreciative nonetheless, drawing comfort from Naruto's warm hand. "She wasn't like all of the other parents, she didn't have any kids." Tayuya took a deep breath, Naruto kept quiet, allowing the girl to talk at her own pace._

"_Well she did but, well, she never told me what happened to them but she always seemed really sad when I asked." While neither said anything they both knew exactly what that meant, even if she hadn't at the time. "One time when my grandfather got really bad, drank more than usual, I was scared so I ran away. I didn't know where I was going and it was dark so I kept tripping over things. Eventually I heard music, I didn't know why but I followed it. It was the old woman and she was playing a flute." She paused to look at the case again "A flute just like that one."_

_Naruto could see she was indicating towards one of the plainer flutes in the cabinet, no less elegant or finely made than the others but with only a single colour and no engravings it was rather simple. It was solid, matte silver with a number of air holes spaced seemingly randomly along its length. He looked back to Tayuya who simply stared at the instrument, unmoving like a statue._

"_After that I would go to her house and she would play for me, said she didn't care what all the other parents thought." Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing; a single tear edged its way out of the corner of Tayuya's eye and lazily dropped down her cheek. She made no move to wipe the offending droplet away and it just followed the contours of her face before hanging onto her chin a moment and dropping to the floor with a muted splash._

"_What happened to her?" Naruto said it as softly as he could but Tayuya once again flinched when she heard his voice. While he liked that Tayuya was opening up to him and revealing more about her past he definitely didn't like seeing her in this state._

"_I don't know, when I left I... I..." By now a few more tears had escaped Tayuya's eyes, but not her notice. She profusely wiped them with her sleeve before straightening up and sniffing back what hadn't made it through her defences. "No sense talking about the past though Shithead." She looked up at him, her usual defiant gleam back in her eyes, almost disappointing Naruto. "Come on, there are a few stores I wanna check out, you still owe me after all." Without anything further she spun on her heel and left the store._

_Naruto's eyes darted between her retreating form and the display case that had so riveted her attention. A determined look entered his eye along with the faintest hints of a smile as he looked over to the bored looking clerk behind the stores counter._

"_Hey mister. How much is one of these flutes?"_

* * *

Tayuya's haunting melody finally drifted to a stop, so gently it was almost difficult to determine when the song ended and the normal sounds of nature began. Naruto hadn't even realised that his mouth had subconsciously fixed itself into a faint grin; he always loved hearing Tayuya play. It wasn't so much because he enjoyed the music, even though it in itself was beautiful; it was more to do with the fact that he could tell how happy it made her every time her fingers danced across its metal surface.

"Oi Shithead, you gonna stare all day like some kind of pervert?"

He chuckled to himself; Tayuya always had the most eloquent ways of snapping him out of his various daydreams. He hopped up into the bough Tayuya was now lazily sitting on, her back up against the trunk. She eyed him curiously with a hint of aggression to which he already knew the reason and before she could do anything he quickly whipped out a scroll from his back pocket.

Without further invitation he channelled some chakra and unsealed the contents, with a flash of smoke a plate quickly appeared atop the scroll. Tayuya's eyes widened a bit as she gazed down on the food on top of said plate. There lay an impressively large pile of dango, still steaming from being freshly grilled.

"You got me dango?" Naruto grinned broadly.

"Not just any Dango... your favourite dango." Tayuya looked at him sceptically, despite the still warm evidence in front of her.

"You couldn't have. Hanami Dango is impossible to get this time of year." Naruto just shrugged innocently with a playful smile still glued on his face. Tayuya took one last look between him and the food on the plate before cautiously bringing it onto her lap. She only revelled in the dreamy smell that wafted up to her nose for a few seconds before happily digging into her favourite food. Hanami Dango was notoriously difficult to find outside of sakura-viewing season, more so in Wind Country when there weren't even any sakura trees in the first place.

"I Hmfp ths isgnt gll mou gt fr mg" Naruto stifled a laugh from Tayuya trying to eat with her mouth full, to busy shovelling down the delicious dumpling to care for trivialities like manners. She gulped down her last mouthful to make some room before repeating herself.

"I hope this isn't all you got for me." Naruto shrugged as he went back to her food, in truth he had hoped this would be enough, it usually made up for most of his 'wrongs'. He just chuckled, this was why he always had a plan B.

"Nope." Tayuya looked at him curiously, still with a mouth full of the snack as he motioned with his hand towards the Hokage monument. She looked by didn't see anything out of the ordinary, or at least she didn't until Naruto made a hand seal. The Hokage Monument seemed to blur ever so slightly for a moment, when the illusion dissipated Tayuya nearly lost her current mouthful.

"Do you like it?" Tayuya looked on at what Naruto had done as an apology with wide, disbelieving eyes. All over the Hokages' faces was bright, multicoloured paint done in random swirls; she even noted that the fourth now bore whisker markings not unlike Naruto's own which gave them a strange resemblance. Naruto looked on at his female companion worriedly, afraid that she wouldn't appreciate all the work that had gone into that prank.

He let out a sigh of relief when Tayuya burst out laughing, just managing to avoid spraying her dango all over the ground below them. His own smile broke out as he was allowed to revel in the unspoken praise of his handy work. After a while of laughter Tayuya just turned to him, still wiping the odd laughter-induced tear from her eyes.

"How the fuck did you manage that Shithead?" Naruto just shrugged, it had actually been surprisingly easy to set up a large henge over the monument. Well, he said easy, it was only his enormous chaka reserves that had stopped him passing out. The hard part was remembering where exactly he had painted already so he wouldn't go over what he'd already done by mistake. Honestly he had expected ANBU to swarm him as soon as he tried to set up the scaffolding; maybe they just thought he was a cleaner?

"Please tell me that's long-lasting paint." Naruto just shook his head sheepishly and Tayuya sighed; Naruto was a good prankster but sometimes he just didn't take it far enough for her liking.

"Nah, it'll come off with the rain." He didn't want to be offensive after all, he only did it to see Tayuya smile so mission accomplished he guessed.

"Oh well, nice work anyway Shithead." She motioned to the now empty plate of Dango and the new additions to the monument. "I guess that'll do." Naruto smiled broadly again as Tayuya pulled him closer to her on the branch, she hated how cold it got her in Fire Country, it was just strange to her considering the name. They sat like that and talked for a while longer, only coming down when Gaara finally came looking for them.

Naruto was glad for the momentary distraction and fun, the next month was going to be filled with training, training and yes... prank- ummm training.


	17. Chapter 17

Naruto just took a few seconds to really enjoy the soft crunching under his feet. It was remarkable to think how similar snow was to sand in the way it blanketed everything it could. At the same time they were so different, while one was harsh and sometimes irritating the other was soft, pure and... Naruto froze mid-step in the middle of his thoughts as he felt a cold wet mass strike the side of his face.

He turned angrily in time to see three giggling shapes retreat into a nearby alleyway. He caught the tail of one of the young boy's scarf with his gaze as it whipped around the corner and sighed deeply. Normally he would have chased after the kids, returned their snowballs in an extremely unnecessary and exaggerated revenge. Luckily the serenity of the night and the utter tranquility of the soft snow-drizzled world around him hand left him in a good mood. That; and he had somewhere to be.

He continued on the path to the gates of the Inuzuka compound, muttering about brats and the inventor of the snowball who he wanted to both congratulate and throttle. He smiled as he walked past ninken, happily rolling around in the snow trying to disturb it as much as possible, only ending up covering their coats with it. Some days they made it particularly difficult to remind himself these were animals trained to kill on command with their partners.

He entered the main house of the complex, wiping the last of the snowball's essence off his neck and out of his shirt. He could have flared Kyuubi's chakra and evaporated the remains of the frozen ball but he always felt like that was cheating. It also didn't help that every time he did so the ninken would be put on edge for the rest of the day, severely annoying their handlers. Instead he just allowed the warmth of the house to get rid of the last of the dampness from his person.

He looked around, still smiling as he observed the festively decorated home. While not the most modern depiction of Christmas you could still tell that is what the household was celebrating. Wreaths of traditional plants like holly and ivy littered the walls while the enticing aroma of festive puddings drifted through the house. For a household of smell-sensitive shinobi that was one of the best parts and Naruto had to agree with them.

While the concept of Christmas itself was quite alien and confusing to Naruto he couldn't help but be caught up in everybody's good moods at this time of year. From what he knew it was some kind of ancient religious tradition brought across from far off western lands and had quickly been accepted by the elemental nations. What was important to the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was the well-established tradition of gift-giving.

Without snow, Christmas never had much impact in Wind Country with residents barely taking notice of the baffling and somewhat pointless holiday. After all it didn't really make much sense to have a day of festivities over a religion you took no part in when at any minute you could be called on a mission that might threaten your life. Even so, now that he was in Konoha again, a big believer in Christmas festivities, he decided to fully immerse himself with the concept while he was here.

This was the reason he had been wandering around since his daily training had finished, trying to find everybody and give them their gifts. The first person he found was Tsume, happily eating in the kitchen with Kuromaru not too far away, equally indulging in some festive dog food. Tsume looked up as Naruto entered, half-heartedly wiping food from her mouth with her sleeve. While a kind-hearted woman one couldn't say Tsume cared too much for manners.

"Hi Mrs. Inuzuka." Tsume smiled and wearily shook her head at the title.

"What have I told you pup? Just call me Tsume." Naruto wasn't too sure about that, he wasn't really one for addressing adults by their first names unless they were his sensei; even then he just gave them nicknames. He felt that it had been overtly kind for Tsume to take him and his friends into their home so he wanted to respect her. He instead decided to divert the topic of the conversation by bringing out a scroll from one of his many pockets and unsealing its contents.

"Merry Christmas." He widened his smile as he held out the ball in front of him. While simple and rather plain he had made sure it was toughened and sturdy; this was a ball that would last a great deal of time. Tsume just took the palm-sized white ball and held it in front of her before her own feral smile graced her lips. She looked down at her faithful companion of over fifteen years and tried to remember the last time she had simply gone outside and played fetch. It seemed like almost lifetimes ago and the fond memories lightened her heart a little.

"Thank you Naruto, this is very kind." She did actually mean that, it was a surprisingly thoughtful gift for somebody who had only known her for a couple of weeks. That; or it was a really lucky guess.

"Have you seen Tayuya or Gaara?" Tsume was still looking at the ball when she shook her head.

"No, sorry but they aren't in their rooms if that helps, I had Hana check on them a while ago." Naruto just shrugged, he had only just started to look after all.

"Thanks anyway." He was already walking out of the door by the time Tsume even looked up from her gift, remembering the last person to get her a gift so thoughtful. All this time and Naruto had never even noticed the framed picture of a smiling red-haired woman and her spiky blonde-haired husband. Naruto was just glad to check a name off of his rather small list of people to give presents to.

He made his way back out into the brisk night and stuck his hands into his pockets; Tayuya may have found his presence warming but that didn't stop the young jinchuuriki from feeling the biting wind. He smiled again as he saw another name on his list walk by in the opposite direction. He didn't bother stopping to talk as he didn't want to keep Kiba busy nor did he want to spend more time out in the cold than he had to.

"Hey Kiba! Merry Christmas!" he had already pulled out the scroll and unsealed the gift by the time he called out. Kiba turned to look at the person who yelled at him only to surprisingly catch the gift and see a mop of blonde hair disappear out of the compound's gates. He smiled before looking down at the gift only for the grin to quickly mould into a frown. He stared down at the packet of dog biscuits before he let out a small chuckle, wearily shaking his head in a manner his mother had done only minutes before.

Naruto took to the rooftops as he raced across town. He knew it had been over seven years since anybody in this village had even seen him but he still didn't want to take any chances. The less people that saw him the better; the way he saw it he was only here for another month, then he could get through the last stage of the exams and just go home. So he stuck to the shadows of the village, not that it was really necessary being night time.

It didn't take him all that long to make it to the temporary accommodations that the non-Konoha chuunin finalists were staying in. Temari and Kankuro could have gone home after they failed the second test but they chose to stay to cheer of their little brother and their pseudo-siblings in the last round. Tayuya would occasionally come here to talk to Temari and Gaara would likewise visit his siblings when he had some free time.

As it was he walked into Kankuro's room only to see the fledgling puppeteer fiddling with Crow, alone. Naruto's sigh brought him out of his concentrated bubble and he looked over, a little sheepish that he had been caught so engrossed in his work. He tidied up the spring-loaded trap he had been working on and swiveled in his seat.

"Hey Naruto, what's up?" Naruto smiled; trust Kankuro to be casual no matter what the situation was.

"Nothing much, you seen Gaara or Tayuya?" Kankuro shrugged and Naruto could tell he was itching to get back to his work.

"Sorry, they were here earlier but I don't know where they were going. Temari might know." Naruto nodded, that was his usual line to get people out of his hair so he could go back to his 'real' friends. Naruto had never got puppetry; he always thought it left the user so open to attack if facing more than one opponent. He couldn't fault Kankuro though, the style had obviously worked for him so far, discounting whatever it was that cost them the second test. He was walking out of the room when he remembered the second reason he had come at all.

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot" He quickly unsealed Kankuro's present as the older boy swiveled on the chair again. Naruto carefully passed the palm-sized vial of deep purple liquid over to his pseudo-brother, taking extra care not to spill a single drop. "New poison, Merry Christmas." Now when you usually give a teenager a vial of deadly incurable poison for Christmas they might react with disdain, annoyance, or if you're lucky indifference. Not Kankuro, he merely beamed like he'd gotten the largest pile of chocolate imaginable.

"Thanks Narut-" the other boy didn't get to hear the rest as he was already out the door and heading across the small hallway to Temari's room. He knocked this time, remembering the last time he barged into Temari's room with a visible gulp. He hadn't thanked Kyuubi enough for his accelerated healing factor that day. Temari admitted him with a strangely muffled shout and he quickly found out why when he came in only to see her hastily putting away some food in a draw.

She hated Konoha food, just preferring her more traditional desert cuisine. It had actually been rather amusing when she had come to him a few days before they left and gotten him to seal copious amounts of said food into a few scrolls for her. He also noticed that she had her Violin in her lap, obviously having been practicing. Yet again it was another reason for her and Tayuya to be so competitive in their respective musical fields. While he would admit that Temari's was just as good as Tayuya, he knew which one he would say if asked, he was just glad he hadn't been.

"What is it squirt?" He chuckled internally, Temari always came off so hardened but he knew she was really soft on the inside... "Sorry speak up, I can't hear you." ...most of the time.

"Hey Temari, you seen Gaara or Tayuya?" She shook her head slowly.

"Nah, but they were in here about twenty minutes ago." A devious smile spread over her features "Why? You finally gonna make your move on the lucky little redhead?" Naruto tried to scowl but honestly he couldn't be mad at Temari right now, her father had just died after all.

"Funny Temari. No I just wanted to give them their presents" His eyes shot open a little in realisation that he had completely forgot once again. Before Temari could comment he had the scroll out yet again and was unsealing its contents in seconds. When the smoke cleared a massive gleaming sickle was in Naruto's outstretched hands. When Temari just stared at it Naruto thought he would have to clarify.

"It's a new scythe for Kamatari." Again Temari just stared at the weapon blankly "Do you like it?" That at least seemed to bring her out of it as she nodded lamely. Naruto simply smiled as he passed her the sickle, already heading out of the room before she recovered. "Well thanks for the information Temari, Merry Christmas."

Up on the rooftops of the temporary accommodations building Naruto was getting frustrated; he decided to track down his friends the old fashioned way. He re-familiarised himself with their scents and went about discerning them from the surrounding aromas and smells that covered the village. Finally he picked up Gaara's distinctive sandy smell and he once again took off across the rooftops to reach his friend.

What he found startled, confused, and amused the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Gaara sitting in a stand, eating ramen. He read the sign over the small, otherwise unnoticeable stand 'Ichiraku's Ramen' and faintly remembered something about that name from his past. When it wouldn't quite take he shrugged and sat down next to Gaara, not even startling the red-haired boy like he had been expecting Naruto all along.

"Hey Gaara" The other boy merely nodded, still engrossed in the steaming noodles he was slowly devouring. "Seen Tayuya?" Gaara nodded again and Naruto waited for him to finish his mouthful.

"She left, said she was going to go look for you." Naruto groaned deeply, he had spent this whole time looking for her when he could have just stayed at the Inuzuka compound and have her come to him. Well at least he didn't forget to give Gaara his present as he so self-congratulatory reminded himself as he pulled out the now almost exhausted scroll. Gaara watched him curiously, familiar with the concept of gift-giving on Christmas, just not used to it.

"Naruto, we haven't celebrated Christmas even a single time in the past seven years. Why did you get me a gift?" Naruto just shrugged while smiling.

"Why not?" As he said it the scroll burst into a small cloud of smoke revealing a medium-sized cloth bag which Naruto happily handed over to Gaara. The one-tail Jinchuuriki peered inside, more than surprised by what he found inside. He poured out some of the gleaming dust onto his hand and curiously examined the shimmering particles.

"Gold dust?" Naruto happily nodded before his smile turned a bit more melancholic.

"I knew you wanted to practise your dad's techniques so..." he wasn't sure how to continue, the present had been planned before Gaara's father was killed and now Naruto wasn't sure how Gaara would take it. He was relieved when Gaara simply poured the dust back into its bag and gave Naruto a small but genuine smile. There were definitely hints of sadness about his features but in all he seemed grateful for the gift.

"Thank you Naruto, this is very kind." Naruto just startled his friend by wrapping him in a warm hug, normally his sand would have intercepted such full-bodied contact but it had lowered its defences against Naruto a long time ago.

"Merry Christmas Gaara." He pulled away from his slightly shocked and slightly happy friend. "I'm going to go find Tayuya, see you later." Gaara just nodded dumbly, still a little overwhelmed by the present from his oldest friend.

* * *

Thirty minutes later and Naruto was beginning to grow steadily more frustrated. He hadn't even caught a whiff of Tayuya as he jumped about the village. Gaara's scent was easily discernible from a crowd so far from the desert whilst Tayuya's cinnamon smell was much harder to pick out. Eventually he found himself up on the Hokage monument on the scant chance that Tayuya had come up there to think or admire the view.

In the end that was what he ended up doing, just sitting up there on the head of one of the most powerful shinobi to ever live, thinking. He thought back to some of his more cherished memories of him and Tayuya and Gaara; he thought ahead to the upcoming finals, his opponents and respective fighting styles. In the end he just idly mused on his life so far and smiled as he thought about the people that had managed to become so precious to him he would gladly fight to his last breath in order to protect them.

He smelt her before he heard her, not even bothering to turn as she came over and sat down next to him, naturally sidling closer to him so she could lay her head down on his shoulder.

"Hey Shithead, been looking all over the village for you." He chuckled lightly and she felt the vibrations through her contact with him. "What's so funny?" He didn't bother turning to answer, maintaining his gaze over the lit up streets that stretched out below them both.

"I can say the same thing about you." She lifted her head up off his shoulder and looked at him with an inquisitive smile.

"How so?" he turned to face her as well and she merely poked a solitary finger as she punctuated each of her words. "Because..." _poke_ "...I'm..." _poke_ "...Not..." _poke_ "...A..." _poke_"...Shithead." She finished with a satisfied grin that made Naruto forgive her for the poking instantly. He chuckled and she let out her own small laugh as she turned to him again. "So why _were_ you looking for me?" Naruto smiled deviously and took out the scroll for hopefully the last time that night.

He channeled chakra into the last of the seals and one bright white smoke cloud later he was happily holding out her presents. She took the pouch first, obviously a replacement for the red belt pouch she kept her flute in. Naruto wasn't audacious enough to try and get Tayuya a replacement flute, she loved it after all and he was the one who bought it for her in the first place. No amount of money can just up and replace that kind of sentimental value.

Like its predecessor the new pouch was red only it was much darker, more akin to the colour of her hair. Without replacing the flute itself Naruto considered this the next best thing and from the look in Tayuya's eye she appreciated the gift as much as he hoped she would. It was in good condition, brand new; something that her old pouch definitely could not say. Tayuya almost looked like she would tear up but she held the back until she took the second gift on the scroll.

It was simple, nothing noteworthy or remarkable that would make it stand out. Even so, as soon as Naruto saw it he knew it was almost made for Tayuya. Naruto was hardly the first person people went to for fashion advice but he just knew that the simple black beanie would look good on Tayuya. She herself wasn't quite sure what to make of the hat; she had worn her bandanna for as long as she remembered living in Suna.

Tentatively almost, she whipped off her headgear and pulled the hat over her unruly hair. It fit perfectly, just resting above where her ears would be if you could see them underneath her vibrant crimson mop. She had to give Naruto the fact that this thing was damn comfortable and from the grin he was giving her he had to at least think it looked good. Of course she would be the judge of that in the end when she had a chance to see it in a mirror but for now it was warm and comfy and smelt a little bit like Naruto so she kept it on.

"Thanks Naruto" Naruto was too shocked to even smile; luckily Tayuya didn't see this as she turned her head away to look out over the village. Of course as there almost always is with Tayuya there was an ulterior motive to the movement. She as desperately trying to hide the blush that overcame her face over the realisation that Naruto had made a genuinely nice and heartfelt gesture and she had nothing to give him in return.

She was frantically searching through her head for what she could do in this situation. She didn't have a gift in return, not even one she could escape him for a while and get, all the stores would be closed by now. She needed something cheap, maybe even free that she could just give him and get this over with. Unfortunately nothing came to mind quickly _'What do friends even get one another on Christmas? Or what do girls give guys?'_

"It's alright if you didn't get me anything Tayuya. That isn't really the point." Tayuya wanted to round on him angrily, she hated how damn perceptive he could be sometimes. Naruto looked like he was about to continue the thought and unwittingly make her feel even guiltier. Instead she did something that she hoped would shut him up and solve her problem at the same time.

Naruto really hadn't expected anything in return for any of his gifts so there was all the more surprise when he felt something soft press up against his lips briefly before pulling away. He just looked in shock at Tayuya who looked back at him, seemingly in the same shock that he was.

"T-Tayuya?" Red invaded her cheeks as he spoke and she forced herself to look away before Naruto saw any more. Naruto continued to stare at the side of her face, eyes a little unfocused as his brain redirected all resources in an attempt to work out what had just happened. It was Tayuya who spoke first, a hushed shy tone that Naruto thought he would never hear from her lips, not in his wildest of imaginings.

"Merry Christmas Naruto" before he could reply she was stood up and had jumped off the monument. His eyes followed her until she was out of sight, still unable to move or speak as his brain overloaded slightly.

"Merry Christmas Tayuya."

* * *

**A/N: And merry Christmas to all of you, hope you hve an amazing day :D Peace off**


	18. Chapter 18

Tayuya was up early, that alone was enough to give her the kind of air that makes people go out of their way to avoid her. She loved her sleep, always lying in until the last possible minute that she could scrounge. This was almost in direct contrast to many of the kunoichi in Konoha who needed to get up early to perfect their looks. Tayuya used to sneer at girls like that in Suna, unfit to become kunoichi at all if they were more concerned with their appearance than their skills in combat.

Why was she up early? Naruto. It always came back to that irritating, knuckleheaded, infectiously happy blonde idiot. That wasn't the full extent of words that Tayuya could use to describe her friend but it was a decent microcosm. She just couldn't face him right now; every time she saw him since that godforsaken kiss on the Hokage monument her cheeks would flare red like she was trying to impersonate a tomato.

Instead she was breaking her own rule about sleeping in so that she could beat her friend to the rise and... do absolutely nothing. There was a reason she didn't get up in the mornings, they were just so useless to her. She enjoyed training as much as the next shinobi but it always felt so utterly pointless in the morning when your eyes hurt to look at the sky. So now she was traipsing around the village with her head hanging low, looking out for anything that might catch her interest and take her mind off the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. That was how she found herself standing right outside Ichiraku's Ramen, staring up at the sign for a good two minutes until the girl working behind the counter noticed her.

"Umm hello? Could I help you?" Tayuya looked around with unfocused eyes until she spotted the thin brunette. Uncharacteristically she smiled weakly, a little embarrassed at being caught gawking at nothing in particular. She ducked under the flaps that separated the small stand from the busy streets and sat down on one of the stools.

"Hi" it was a start she guessed; it actually surprised her a little, normally she wasn't even that good at talking to strangers without some kind of barb in the words. Even so, there was just something about the kindly girl behind the counter that sucked any of the potential venom from her words. There was nothing particularly special about her; simple long brown hair tied up with a cloth and a typical waitress outfit, a white blouse with a blue apron.

It was more her demeanour, she had a naturally kindly face with a smile that, while well rehearsed and worn, was no less comforting and genuine. Her eyes also spoke of innocence and kindness, obviously having never seen any true hardship in her life like she, Naruto, or Gaara had. Even so there was just something not quite visible about her that told of understanding and compassion. For somebody used to the more jaded side of life with bandits and people that would stab you in the back it was unsettling for Tayuya.

"Could I get you anything?" Even her voice was soft with just the faintest hint of natural humour. This was somebody you couldn't find a reason to dislike.

"Well what have you fucking got?" Not that Tayuya wouldn't give it a good shot. The waitress, ever versed in people's mannerisms didn't even flinch from the language; she merely maintained her warm smile.

"I would recommend the miso ramen, since it's our specialty." Tayuya just nodded tiredly as the girl sent the order back to the elderly man in the kitchen who she quickly gleaned was her father.

"So I notice you aren't getting the diet ramen?" The voice didn't come from the waitress, it came from behind Tayuya, making her wonder who had the balls, or lack thereof seeing as the voice was decidedly feminine, to judge her. She turned on the chair to see the platinum blonde girl that she vaguely remembered from the chuunin exams preliminary matches.

"Yeah, what of it twiggy?" Tayuya just gave her nickname as the first thing that came to mind. For a kunoichi the girl was startlingly thin. Strangely enough the strange Konoha nin seemed to take the comment as a compliment and sat down in the stool next to Tayuya with a smug smile.

"Aren't you watching your figure?" Tayuya narrowed her eyes; that was an all too strange comment from a ninja.

"Figure? What the hell are you talking about? I train every day for at least four fucking hours, why the hell would I need to watch what I eat?" The blonde seemed to be put off by the retort, apparently thinking over the answer but not finding it to her liking if her brief shake of the head was anything to go on.

"Isn't there a boy you like?" Now Tayuya was seriously put off; who was this girl and why the hell did she care about this crap?

"What the fuck have boys got to do with anything?" The other girl seemed just as put off by that answer as Tayuya had by the question. Her eyes went wide as if Tayuya was speaking some kind of abhorrent blasphemy.

"Are you saying there are no boys that you like?" Tayuya really wanted to escape right now, not only were these questions getting on her nerves they were beginning to get embarrassing. Of course she knew what the other girl meant when she said 'like' but Tayuya hoped playing innocent would get her to just leave her alone.

"Of course, my two best friends are guys." The blonde seemed somewhat placated by that, even though she was a little wary of the fact that the girl seemed to have no friends that were girls.

"Well that explains your appearance." Okay, that was the final straw. Tayuya was just about to rearrange the blonde girl's oh so precious face, and she would have if the waitress didn't come back with her ramen. She decided it would be better for everybody, herself included, if she just ignored the blonde girl and her incessant questions.

"I'm Ino by the way. What's your name?" Tayuya just grunted between mouthfuls, hoping that Ino would get the message and leave. No such Luck. "So what are the guys like in the Sand village? I bet they're really tanned aren't they?" Tayuya narrowed her eyes again, still not bothering to turn and face the other girl. "It's kind of rude to not talk when somebody's speaking to you." Tayuya only laughed mid-bite and managed a muffled 'uh huh'. By now Ino looked about ready to leave, much to Tayuya's relief, however when the redhead finished her meal in a very Naruto-esque fashion the other girl gained a devilish smile.

"Well if there aren't any boys that you like then allow me to introduce you to the only boy you'll ever like." Tayuya only managed to furrow her brow in a questioning manner before she was practically dragged out of the ramen stand. She only just managed to chuck the money to cover the meal at the surprised waitress before she was round the corner and out of sight. Now that she had her bearings she wrenched her arm out of the other girl's grasp, noting that it didn't take much effort on her part as Ino wasn't all that physically strong.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ino just smiled at her stupidly, her mind obviously elsewhere.

"Come on, I'm going to take you to Sasuke." Tayuya tried to back away but Ino once again took her arm.

"I don't give a shit about Sas-gay. I just want to go train." Again Ino didn't even seem to hear her.

"Yeah, he's mostly over by the training grounds." She sighed dreamily. "He's so committed as a shinobi." Tayuya just mumbled something under her breath about how committed this girl should be with a weak-ass grip like this. Even so she just decided to go with it; she was heading towards the training grounds anyway and it wasn't like she had something better to do. However that didn't mean she was going to allow herself to be dragged around by a kunoichi half her weight, and from the sound of things half her IQ too.

She once again wrenched her arm out of Ino's hardly vice-like grip and walked at a fairly sedate pace behind her. Ino seemed annoyed that the girl wasn't ecstatic about seeing Sasuke but she was at least following now so she didn't have to keep pulling her around. She found it a little odd that the flaming red-haired girl was much heavier than herself yet at the same time her figure was still quite trim. She wondered if the girl was right about doing all that training, she didn't look particularly muscular but she was obviously strong.

"So what about your friends?" Tayuya just looked at her in a way that very clearly said '_what about them?' _Ino just rolled her eyes and moved closer before conspiratorially whispering, "What are they like?" Tayuya stopped still on the path, glaring at the blonde before her who just ignored the heated look. "That blonde kid you're with was pretty cute, nothing on Sasuke of course but I guess you have to take what you can get."

Tayuya found herself becoming strangely heated hearing this strange girl talk about Naruto in that way. What was even stranger was the feeling she received when Ino compared him to some other boy. She kept up her glare the rest of the way to the training grounds, completely ignoring every other question Ino shot her way. The blonde didn't actually think much of it; she was obviously the type who just enjoyed the sound of her own voice.

They eventually reached the appropriate training ground even though with every step Tayuya was regretting not running away more and more. They emerged into a relatively large clearing with three wooden posts driven into the ground off to one side. It was bordered on one side by trees and on the other by a large, crystal-clear lake. It was ideal for training purposes due to its inclusion of all the possible elements, water in the lake, earth beneath their feet, wind all around them and fire... well fire came from pure chakra manipulation so that could be practised anywhere.

"There he is, isn't he dreamy?" Tayuya just looked vaguely annoyed that the blonde had once again decided to interrupt her thoughts. However when she looked in the direction the girl was off-handily pointing she noticed the black haired kid that defeated Kiba in the preliminaries. He was currently engaged in a rather heated spar with his sensei, the tall, silver-haired scarecrow that had sealed her curse mark. Even thinking about it made her subconsciously reach back to rub the spot it was now ingrained on.

"What, the kid with the duck's ass for a haircut?" Ino looked around, completely appalled by the way Tayuya had described the boy she had a crush on.

"What are you talking about? Sasuke's hair does NOT look like a duck's... umm that!" Tayuya grinned; she was glad that she was finally the one annoying the other.

"Oh sure, look you just need the right angle." She quickly whipped behind Ino, grabbing the other girl's arms and reaching around her to make a camera-like symbol with her hands, focused on Sasuke. "See look. There's the feathers sticking up..." she angled the shot around some more "...and that's the ass." Ino finally wriggled out of the stronger girl's hold and turned to look at her angrily, desperately trying to cover up the fact that she had actually seen what Tayuya meant.

"Yeah well that Naruto guy's hair looks like... umm..." Tayuya cocked an eyebrow, wondering why the girl would think she cared if Naruto's hair looked like anything at all. For that matter she wondered why Ino cared what she thought of Sasuke's hair, shouldn't the fact that there wasn't another girl vying for his attention be a good thing? When Ino couldn't come up with anything, partly due to the fact that she had actually been admiring the shaggy and wild look of Naruto's hair in the preliminaries, her whole body seemed to slump.

"What's so great about this fucking Sasuke guy anyway?" Ino looked like she was ready to rattle of an entire list and then some so quickly Tayuya raised her arm and dismissed any more conversation. "You know what? I couldn't give a flying fuck." Ino still seemed determined to prove that her Sasuke was the greatest and Tayuya could already see her mouth opening to do just that. Before she could however, no doubt leading to Tayuya kicking her across the clearing into the lake, everybody in the vicinity heard an enormous crash coming from further into the forest.

It was loud enough to catch the attention of the two sparring shinobi in the middle of the field who looked around in surprise. Sasuke only seemed to notice at that moment the two newcomers at the edge of the training ground. He was used to girls like Ino coming to watch him train but the red-haired girl was new, he sighed deeply thinking it was another annoying fan girl. When he looked closer he realised she was one of the ones at the preliminaries, the one that was beaten by Lee.

He had seen what she was trying to do, scope out her opponent with taijutsu before falling into her preferred fighting style. It was only unfortunate it was Rock Lee she was facing or the tactic may have worked in her favour. As it was it left him not knowing her abilities or skill level, he didn't like not knowing these things. He walked over to them, completely ignoring the large crash that had diverted his attention their way in the first place.

"You're not another fan girl are you?" He said it with an annoyed sneer, which made Tayuya want to laugh out loud. Instead she settled on her own sneer of derision.

"Yeah you wish duck-boy" He seemed momentarily confused by the comment, especially when he noticed Ino stifling a small giggle before she turned to Tayuya in badly acted annoyance. At that moment Tayuya couldn't really have cared less about the annoying Uchiha in front of her, she was much more curious about what made the loud noise. At that moment Kakashi decided to suddenly appear before the genin, startling all three even if two hid it better than the other.

"You should be nicer Sasuke. This was the girl who saved you in the Forest of Death." Ino suddenly looked across at Tayuya in what could only be described as a perfect mix of awe and utter jealousy. Sasuke took another appraising look at the girl, noticing the sealed mark on her neck that could have very well been on his own without her intervention.

"Hmph, thanks then." It was said fairly apathetically, out of formality more than anything else but it only doubled the jealous look Ino was shooting at her. Tayuya just shrugged and began walking away, much to the surprise of the three gathered.

"Hey where are you going?" It was Ino who called out so Tayuya completely ignored the girl as she strode off in the direction she heard the noise coming from. Ino furtively glanced between the red-haired girl and her crush that had decided to go back to training after the momentary disturbance. Knowing by now that Sasuke wouldn't give her the time of day until his training was over, and even then he might still ignore her, she took off after the interesting girl who was somehow immune to Sasuke's appeal.

"Hey, where are you going? We could have watched Sasuke training for a while." Even though Tayuya had drawn a pretty good picture of what this girl was like by now she still shot a disbelieving look behind her.

"I'm a ninja. Why the hell would I want to do that when I could just fucking train myself?" Thankfully for Tayuya, that shut Ino up for a while as she wrestled with the answer. They walked on in relative silence, drawing closer to the origin of the strange noises that reverberated throughout the forest. Finally she could see what looked like a clearing up ahead and jogged over to where the tree's ended.

"Alright come at me with everything you've got!" She groaned as the familiar voice rang out across the training ground. Immediately she felt like slinking away before Naruto noticed her if he hadn't already. Luckily he seemed focused on his training as he faced off against three of his shadow clones. She tried to walk away but by that time Ino had caught up to her and was curiously poking her head through into the clearing to see what was making Tayuya so obviously uncomfortable.

Naruto was standing on top of the river with three shadow clones, all in different taijutsu stances. His jacket was off to one side so that it wouldn't get wet, which left him in just his black pants and a navy shirt that clung to his damp body showing off his muscles. He had also removed his headband so it lay on top of his jacket, leaving his wild hair to freely fall across his forehead, partially obscuring his vision. He did this to give him the most disadvantages possible against the clones to make the training that much harder.

Ino couldn't stop the blush that rushed across her cheeks as she watched Naruto fighting himself across the water in perfectly trained attacks that viciously fought back the clones despite their numerical superiority. When one clone poofed out of existence thanks to too many solid blows Naruto just made another, constantly maintaining the three enemies that came at him. It was an intensive chakra exhausting training method that helped him refine his taijutsu style.

What Ino was focused on was the way that his tight tee shirt clung to his body and the way his muscles flexed with every punch or kick. She was captivated by the supposedly foreign boy's startling blue eyes; right now they had a hardened edge thanks to their focus on the fight at hand. The strange whisker-like marks on his cheeks were cute in the way they made him unique. She excitedly turned around to face Tayuya who was just now beginning to sneak away from the scene while Ino was captivated.

"That's your teammate?" Tayuya just brought a finger up to her lips and shot the girl an annoyed look.

"Shut up, he's got hearing like a fucking bat!" Ino completely disregarded the other girl and the huge smile plastered over her face just told her she wasn't done with the questions. Tayuya groaned again, but quietly so as not to alert Naruto to her presence. The last thing she needed right now was an awkward conversation with her friend in front of this annoying girl.

"He's cute. You have to tell me about him." Tayuya snarled and began walking off in the opposite direction while Ino rushed after her, the same puppy-like smile on her features.

* * *

Naruto thought it was the strangest thing; he was in the middle of training, fighting off a few of his clones and he thought he had smelt Tayuya and some other unknown person. The distraction had caused him to lower his guard and one of the clones got a powerful blow in, almost knocking him into the water. He quickly rejoined the fight but by that time her scent had gone; he shrugged it off as the unfamiliar forest playing tricks on him.

Despite the intensity of his training Naruto's thoughts were elsewhere. Surprisingly they weren't on Tayuya, despite the girl being the centre of his focus for the past few days. He felt as though she had been avoiding him recently and every time he tried to talk with her she would run off saying she had training to do. He would grumble about it but in truth he had a lot of his own training to do in preparation for the Chuunin Exam finals.

That was what occupied his thoughts as he dodged yet another sweeping blow from a clone he had dubbed 'Clone A'. Mainly he thought about his first fight with Neji; right now he was doing his more generic fitness and skill-sharpening exercises but sooner or later he would have to do some more specific training. The main area of concern was Neji's gentle fist style of fighting, he knew only one person who could help him with that.

With a sigh he dispelled all his clones and gathered up all his gear, electing to leave his headband off for the moment as it tended to get a bit sweaty if he left it on all day. He hopped through the village, always careful to keep off the beaten track by sticking to alleys and rooftops. He knew there was no real concern to be this cautious but he couldn't help it; even though he could now easily protect himself it would bring back too many memories.

Soon he was in front of the large gates of the Hyuuga compound. He remembered how he knew where it was with a large grin; hopefully the Hyuuga's wouldn't though. Originally the prank had just been to spread the Hyuuga's laundry all across the village in easy to reach places, no real harm done. It wasn't his fault that some pervert had taken it upon themselves' to go around taking some of the more unmentionable items. With only a momentary hesitation Naruto knocked on the vast gate, only for it to be immediately opened by a tall, thin man with the characteristic eyes that marked him a Hyuuga.

"Yes?" Naruto scratched his head, he had hoped for a little more time to come up with a more eloquent way stating why he was there.

"Hi, can I talk to Hinata?" He mentally shrugged; it sounded alright to him. The older man scrutinised him for a moment, thankfully without the Byakugan active. Eventually his gaze softened and he nodded before leading Naruto through the winding compound out into a large courtyard. Naruto smiled as he saw Hinata going through an excessively complicated kata with a younger girl with straight brown hair as the target.

Hinata noticed Naruto as soon as he came into the courtyard and deviating from the standard kata she quickly incapacitated the younger girl. Hanabi cried out in annoyance at the 'dirty trick' but quietened down when she too noticed the newcomer. Hinata curtly walked over to him with a small smile.

"Hello Naruto." He gave his own smile and waved in greeting.

"Hey Hinata, I was wondering if I could get your help." She raised an eyebrow at that but nodded with a small smile that was steadily growing. "My first fight in the finals is with Neji so I figured you'd be the best person to come to about advice regarding his style." She nodded slowly and Naruto didn't notice as her smile briefly diminished in size.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. However without an extremely intensive course into our style, which I wouldn't be able to give you anyway, I'm not sure how I can help you." Naruto frowned at that, he hadn't expected them to outright teach him the style but he still wanted some help.

"Uhh I don't know, is there some kind of way to block the strikes?" Hinata gave a small, tinkling laugh that eased some of Naruto's frustration.

"Naruto you're asking me to give away my family's style and its secrets." He smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head; when she said it that way then the request did sound a bit stupid.

"Oh, uh, right." She laughed again causing Naruto to smile more out of necessity than amusement.

"Sorry but I can't help you Naruto, as much as I want to see Neji beaten in the final." She smirked at the thought "But don't worry, I'm sure you'll beat him anyway." Naruto nodded, already making a move to turn and leave but he stopped, remembering something that had been nagging at him for a while.

"Oh yeah Hinata, what was all that crap Neji was spouting when he beat you, isn't he your family?" Hinata immediately went quite at that, the smile vanishing off her face before the last word was out of her mouth. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to say something rude." He could tell that the subject was obviously troubling the young Hyuuga heiress so he decided to drop it. "Uh never mind, I'll just go. See you around Hinata." She didn't answer him as he left so he hurriedly made his way out of the compound.

"_Boy that was weird."_

"_**Yeah, you're telling me." **_Naruto nearly jumped in the middle of the street as Kyuubi's voice rumbled though his head.

"_Hey I told you to stop surprising me like that." _She just chuckled lightly.

"_**Sure, and babies will start growing on trees." **_Naruto didn't have a comeback for that, partly because he was embarrassed about where babies did in fact come from, of which he had no clue. _**"Oh well you see when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, they hold their hands together, squeeze their eyes closed really tight and make a wish. Then after appeasing Kami with a ritual sacrifice of a newborn goat a baby appears." **_Naruto gave the laughing fox and internal scowl if such a thing was possible.

"_Ha ha, very funny." _He only felt her nod in his head.

"_**Yeah, I thought so too." **_He bit back his next retort, now actually wondering where babies did in fact come from; perhaps he would have to take Hana up on that offer she made him. However right now training was more on the forefront of his mind. _**"Oh well in that case I figured I would tell you that I can unseal your tenketsu if the Hyuuga seals them with those magic fingers of his."**_

"_Huh what are you talking about?" _He heard a sigh from inside his head, which made him scowl. Every time Kyuubi sighed it meant she was silently thinking he was being an idiot.

"_**Not every time. Anyway, I can force my chakra through your tenketsu if they get sealed which will reopen them, I can only do that once though, after that it's all down to you." **_Naruto gave her a mental nod so as to not freak out any passing civilian who might just think he was crazy. It was useful information to know and it would certainly surprise Neji if it ever came to pass. Of course this was merely a back-up plan or a what-if scenario but the information was appreciated nevertheless.

As he was walking he spotted Tayuya going down the street in front of him with a blonde haired girl trailing behind her. He smiled to himself, it was good that she was making friends; he was so worried that she wouldn't talk to anybody but him and Gaara this entire time.

* * *

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Tayuya was at her wit's end; she was so close to just turning around and kicking this girl across the village. In fact so far it had been an amazing show of restraint on her part due to her not wanting to cause some kind of international incident.

"Because you haven't told me everything yet!" In truth Tayuya hadn't told Ino anything but that didn't stop the girl from digging. Pretty soon she felt like she might just tell the girl anything she wanted to hear so she would piss off and leave her alone, exactly as Ino planned.

"Uuuurgh!" Tayuya picked up the pace only for Ino to match it; soon she was just going to sprint.

* * *

Naruto watched the two leave still with a smile, at least she was talking to somebody even if it wasn't him. They seemed to be heading in the direction of the hot springs and if Naruto had to admit it, that sounded like a really good idea right now. He was still pretty worked up from his exercise and hadn't warmed down properly so his muscles were quite tense. A good long soak would do him some good right now, not to mention it would be relaxing.

So ten minutes later he was emerging from the springs' building with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked out over the steaming waters before him with a satisfied smile, reassuring himself that this had been a good idea. He made his way quickly over to the only unoccupied spring and slid in with a very audible sigh of pleasure. Immediately the warm waters leeched the very pains out of his skin and muscles leaving him feeling like a cloud.

His very good mood was ruined by a persistent giggling sound coming from somewhere over towards the back of the bathing area. Naruto tried to ignore it but as it carried on he slowly gained a small tick mark on his forehead. Finally snapping out of irritation he pulled himself out of the water, this time with a very different sigh, and wrapped the towel around his waist again. With his wet feet slapping against the stone slabs of the bathing area Naruto made his way over to the source of the irritating giggling.

What he saw both perplexed and annoyed him; there was an old white-haired man giggling incessantly as he peered through a hole in the wall as he occasionally looked away and wrote things in his small notebook. With a gulp and no small amount of embarrassment Naruto realised the wall was the divider between the male and female baths. His embarrassment gave way to anger as he realised that Tayuya might be on the other side of the wall.

"Hey you pervert, get away from there!"


	19. Chapter 19

The old man peeping on the women's side of the hot springs immediately froze in place, cringing forward ever so slightly. He turned, expecting a seething woman that would no doubt want to kick him as hard as they could across the village. This was just paranoia of course; if he had actually thought about it then he would have disregarded such an idiotic notion. Firstly there couldn't have been a woman on this side of the springs in the first place and secondly the voice was far too masculine. Instead it was with great relief that he turned only to see a fourteen year-old kid with spiky blonde hair eerily reminiscent of-

"Hey, I told you to stop peeping you pervert!" Naruto finally got a good look at the older man as he turned; he was surprisingly large for his size. Intrinsically thanks to years of training to recognise such things, Naruto immediately knew that it was muscle, not fat. The way he held himself, despite his previous cowardly posture, spoke of power and expectations of the inherent respect that came along with it. However more surprising than that to Naruto was the fact that, after a good look at the man's face, he actually recognised the man. How could he not, after all he was the author of Naruto's all time favourite series.

"Oh hey, you're Jiraiya of the Sannin," The man beamed, obviously extremely happy at being recognised. "Yeah, I recognise you from the author shot at the end of the book." The man's eyes grew even wider and his smile more radiant as he looked down at one of his loyal readers. "Huh, figures a guy who writes books like that would be some kind of super pervert." Before Naruto even fully realised what was happening he found himself enveloped in one of the largest and most bone-crunching hugs he could remember.

"I have found him! I have found the person who truly understands me!" Jiraiya pulled out of the hug to stare at Naruto with watery eyes and the same beaming grin. Naruto just tried to wriggle out of the awkward grasp while an abnormally large sweat drop hung from his head. It dawned on him that he was still wearing little more than a bath towel around his midsection and he increased his struggles tenfold. It was in vain though, the old man's vice like grip was impenetrable, like his arms were made of actual steel.

"Gah! Get off me you old perv!"Jiraiya quickly got off of the younger boy, but only because he noticed that people were starting to stare in their direction. Outwardly he was still beaming like a child who worked out how to get into the cookie jar.

"Kid, you're one in a million. Maybe I should make you my student, no... better yet my apprentice, no wait... even better my protégé!" Naruto just widened his eyes and started to take slow but deliberate steps away from the eccentric and possibly crazy Sannin. Suddenly another thought struck Naruto as he backed away from Jiraiya.

"Hey wait, you're a Sannin right?" Finally the older man was knocked out of his little fantasy world and he curtly nodded to Naruto, still with that idiotic smirk.

"That's right kid! You have the privilege of looking at the one and only Toad Sage, Jiraiya of the Sannin!" Naruto could have sworn he heard fireworks after the man announced himself but he quickly shook his head of it.

"Right, right..." Jiraiya's face fell a bit at the slightly dismissive and unimpressed tone in Naruto's voice "...so that means you know Orochimaru right?" Suddenly Jiraiya was all business as his demeanour immediately shifted to a more professional tone. Naruto was genuinely surprised as he wouldn't have thought this old perv had a professional bone in his body.

"Why are you asking about my former teammate?" He said the word 'former' with no small amount of spite and Naruto contemplated whether or not bringing the obviously touchy subject up had been a good idea. He gulped down his anxiety and ploughed on in a very traditional Naruto-esque way.

"He killed Gaara's father so I want to put a kunai between his shoulder blades." Jiraiya scrutinised the boy before him with an incredibly stern and piercing gaze before his eyes finally softened and he let out a small chuckle.

"Hey, join the ever increasing club kid." Naruto narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"So you have no idea where he is?" It was said hopefully despite Naruto already knowing the answer. Jiraiya just shook his head in response and Naruto felt his mood worsen even further; and to think that hot springs were supposed to be relaxing. Now that the old Sannin had no useful information for him Naruto had returned to the uncomfortable state he was in before. "Oh well... all right then." With that Naruto just turned on his heel and started making his way back through the springs.

"Hey wait up brat." Naruto couldn't help but wince; the insult didn't exactly help make him want to comply with the pervert's wishes so he kept walking. Jiraiya overtook him, turning to face him and simultaneously blocking Naruto's way out of the springs. "I said wait up." Naruto shrugged innocently with a plainly disinterested look on his face.

"Yeah I heard you, but if you can't train me then I have no real interest." Jiraiya's eyes seemed to widen to almost impossible sizes as he stared down at Naruto who once again grew uncomfortable under the strange gaze.

"Are you kidding me kid? I'm Jiraiya of the _Legendary _Sannin; I've been and fought in all five hidden villages, visited every land in the elemental nations and faced enemies that would make you cower in fear." He looked a bit more smug now, however Naruto managed to maintain his emotionless mask and reply in a completely deadpan voice.

"Doesn't make you a good teacher" Jiraiya managed to accumulate a large drop on the side of his head that may or may not have been condensation from the springs.

"Yeah well kid, I can show you a thing or two." His cocky, over-confident persona was now back in place as he took purposeful strides towards the unoccupied spring Naruto had been sitting in minutes ago. When he reached the edge of the water he just kept going, purposefully striding out until he was in the centre of the water. "See, how's that for a-"

"Sorry were you saying something?" Jiraiya turned around, agitated at the boy's offhanded tone; however he was briefly put off when he saw what Naruto was doing. He too was on the surface of the water, except he was standing on top of a kunai, which was point down atop the water's surface. Naruto just lazily yawned as Jiraiya's eyebrow twitched and a few hot spring patrons clapped at the impressive display.

"Oh, well it seems you have chakra control exercises down at least." Naruto's eye's narrowed slightly, believing the man to have completely wasted his time so far. At least he had stopped the man from peeking, even if he was probably going to go straight back to it as soon as he left.

"Umm, like I said, if you aren't going to teach me anything..." he didn't bother to finish the sentence as he hopped off the kunai onto stone floor of the bathing area and quickly hurried towards the changing rooms. He was fully dressed and on his way out by the time Jiraiya snapped out of his grumbling trance and caught up.

"Well kid, you mentioned a Gaara before. That wouldn't happen to be Gaara no Subaku, son of the late Kazekage would it?" Naruto didn't bother turning to face the man but he did quirk an eyebrow at the mention of his friend. "I ask because you seem to know so much about me and yet I know so little about you." Naruto stopped walking in the middle of the street to look at Jiraiya without even attempting to hide his bemusement.

"Really? Then guess all that stuff I read about your supposedly vast spy network was exaggerated then." Naruto shrugged in an amused fashion and carried on, a smile now on his face. Orochimaru wasn't the only Sannin that Naruto had decided to research. He was a little disappointed when Jiraiya didn't even seem fazed and matched Naruto step for step.

"Maybe you're right _Naruto_." The younger boy smirked, knowing that the Sannin was baiting him; he hadn't given his name after all. "You know, I'm almost a little flattered that whoever your parents were they named you after the title character of my story." Naruto's breath hitched a little but he quickly covered it up with a cough that seemed to go unnoticed by his unwanted companion.

"_Whoever_ my parents were? Another hole in the network?" Jiraiya just shrugged nonchalantly and despite their awkward and strange initial encounter Naruto actually found himself warming up to the older man. It was nice to have someone to banter with who wouldn't use a curse word every other sentence.

"So kid, where you headed?" A remarkably perverted grin erupted on Jiraiya's face and Naruto sighed, not liking where this was going. "You meeting up with a _lady _friend per chance?" Naruto grimaced but didn't say anything which only caused Jiraiya's grin to spread to almost comical proportions as he quickly lost himself in whatever sick fantasy was going through his mind. While curious, Naruto found himself desperately not wanting to know what the man was thinking about, especially if it involved him.

After about thirty minutes of walking in highly awkward silence Naruto finally arrived at the Inuzuka compound. It was late and he was tired and surprisingly Jiraiya just kept walking after Naruto stopped, apparently still lost in his perverted dream land. Naruto just counted his blessings as the perverted Sannin walked off with a goofy grin while he slipped into the compound via the gate. He sighed an enormous breath he didn't even realise he had been holding as he leaned against the large wooden gate.

Naruto walked across the grounds of the compound, unsure of what to do with himself. It was late but not enough that he felt the need to sleep just yet. He could train but last time he did that he disturbed Hana and he didn't want to do that to any other passing Inuzuka. Now that he thought about it he wasn't even sure why he had come back to the compound, he had simply followed his feet on instinct.

His thoughts trailed back to Hana and her offer earlier in the week; he reddened as he thought about it but if she was here in the compound then this was probably a good time. He lazily altered his course to head for the veterinary practise tucked away in the corner of the estate. He knew this was going to be even more awkward and uncomfortable than talking to Jiraiya but he grit his teeth and kept walking. His last thought before he entered was on what Tayuya might be doing right about now.

* * *

She was hunkered over in the darkest corner of the alley, using the shadows as a shroud to conceal herself. She wouldn't call it cowering herself but in essence it was what she was doing as she sat curled up in her own arms. She gripped her legs fiercely, nearly drawing blood with how hard her nails pressed her skin. It was all she could do to stop herself rocking backwards and forwards like a PTSD patient.

'_It__ isn't human; nothing could follow me that fast and break all those Genjutus.' _She tried to take her mind off it by thinking how she got here. They were running across rooftops, although sprinting would have been more accurate, and Tayuya was weaving in and out of every passage she could find in an attempt to lose her pursuer. She gained a small amount of ground and ducked into a nearby alleyway, forming a very familiar crossed seal with her hands as she did so.

The shadow clone raced off in the opposite direction and soon after it, the platinum blonde blur. She sighed in relief from her position on the cold, slightly damp floor; at least that should take care of her problem for the foreseeable future. When she saw Naruto tonight she was going to have to thank him for teaching her that jutsu. She stood up and brushed herself off, not really bothered by the small amount of dirt on her clothing but she knew the smell would annoy Naruto later.

She stopped herself on that thought; she had always been rather considerate about Naruto's heightened senses but he had never gone out of her way to avoid making him uncomfortable. In fact most of the time the exact opposite was true in most other situations. It only struck her as odd because this was the first time it had happened. She managed to brush it off with the rest of the dirt on her clothes and walked out of the alley... straight into the smiling face of one Ino Yamanaka.

"There you are Tayuya!"

* * *

Naruto heard the scream that echoed throughout the village and he also faintly noticed that the voice was somewhat familiar. However in his current state he barely cared; his face was a shade of red that would make a tomato blush and he would still be redder. His eyes were so wide that he couldn't actually physically close them and the only thing that kept his jaw from simply dropping to the ground was the constraints of biology.

He walked in a very stiff and robotic manner towards his accommodations, his mind far gone from what his eyes were seeing as he walked. Everything that Hana had told him rushed through his mind, unfortunately so did the visual aids she used, in horrifically vivid detail. Naruto couldn't stop his eye twitching as he thought about the mechanics of what she had been trying to explain. Naruto now firmly wished he had ignored his own curiosity and taken his ignorance to the grave.

He flopped down on the bed, only off-handily noticing that Tayuya wasn't there which was probably for the best considering what he now knew. Sleeping in the same bed as his female friend now took on a whole new perspective in his mind as the connotations of such actions were revealed to him. He was actually just glad that Hana didn't need to resort to using a 'friend' who apparently would have been more than happy to give some kind of demonstration.

To say Naruto was shell-shocked by the entire affair was definitely an understatement. With an exasperated sigh he flopped his head down on the mattress, hoping that sleep would just claim him so he could put off dealing with this until the morning. Luckily the entire ordeal had been exhausted and not soon after that the sweet and merciful embrace of sleep took him.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he woke up for the fourth time in a row without Tayuya's vibrant locks in his face. Her waking up early normally would have concerned him; it told him something was very wrong. However all he could do was sigh and be mildly annoyed, mostly because he knew the reason was him. He wasn't entirely sure why she was avoiding him but he had a pretty strong idea it had something to do with that kiss up on the Hokage monument.

He wanted to talk to Tayuya about it but she had been avoiding him ever since. It really didn't help that he found it nigh on impossible to locate her scent in the veritable hive of activity that was Konoha. His specific training had hit a dead end with Hinata so on that end he was stuck, the only thing he could do concerning the finals was train the skills he already had. _'Then again Jiraiya really was a sannin, it couldn't have hurt too much to get one or two techniques from the man.'_

He merely shrugged, that too was a lost cause as he had no idea where the man was so it was pointless thinking about it. He got up and showered, figuring he would go out and find Gaara; sparring with him always cheered him up. He looked back on the previous day's events, now with some hindsight he was actually taking in the knowledge Hana had given him. He might have overreacted just a little; she had explained that it was all perfectly natural so really he had nothing to worry about.

Somehow that didn't quite settle his nerves on the whole affair with Tayuya but he put it to the back of his mind for now. He quickly got dressed and ran out of the compound, hoping that he wouldn't run into Hana. He didn't think any differently of her now, except as a female, but he figured it would be slightly awkward to talk right now. Once out of the compound he took to the rooftops; normally he would head straight for the training grounds but Gaara's scent was definitely somewhere in the village.

He was just lucky he didn't have the same issues with the Leaf village that Naruto did, he could walk around in public. The only strange looks he would receive were due to the enormous gourd constantly strapped to his back. Naruto quickly caught up with the Sand-wielder and gulped when he realised who he was walking with. He settled into a brisk walk next to his friends, him on one side of Gaara and Tayuya on the other.

"Hey Gaara, Tayuya." Gaara nodded and Tayuya just grunted something inaudible. Awkward silence settled over the three until surprisingly Gaara decided to break the ice.

"So Naruto, have you found any way to combat the Hyuuga's style?" Naruto hung his head a little.

"No, I can't find anybody to teach me about it." Tayuya scoffed loudly from her position on the other side of Gaara.

"Well duh, it's not like they're gonna just teach you all their weaknesses." Naruto hung his head lower still seeing as that was in essence what Hinata had told him however he smiled anyway, glad that Tayuya didn't seem to be avoiding him anymore.

"So what are you going to do?" Naruto just looked up at Gaara with a feral gleam and a broad grin.

"You know me, I'll just wing it." Tayuya scoffed again but kept her opinion to herself this time. "So Gaara, want to go spar?" The smaller boy seemed pleased with the idea but a different thought seemed to come to mind and he shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't. I have my own training to do." When he saw Naruto's exaggerated puppy dog look he gave a small smirk. "There will be plenty of time for that in the last fight of the finals." Naruto nodded happily at that, even though it might have made him seem slightly cocky about his chances of reaching the last fight.

"We could spar." Naruto looked over at Tayuya a little surprised; in fact the girl seemed surprised herself that she had even made the comment. It was more out of instinct in these situations but Naruto wasn't going to give her the chance to take back the offer.

"Great!" Before Tayuya could properly react of even fight back Naruto had her arm and had thrown her onto his back in a makeshift piggy back. Gaara watched as they were there one second and gone the next, only the slight fluttering of loose papers on the street telling him they had moved. Gaara smirked, knowing what Tayuya's reaction would be when they came to a stop. He looked around a moment to check nobody else had seen the speedy departure before heading off to a nearby, but deserted training ground to perfect the technique he had been working on.

* * *

Tayuya got off of Naruto's back a little shakily, her hair was slightly less orderly than it had been when they had left and had even managed to gain a few leafy ornaments during transit. She took a moment to allow the world to stop wobbling quite as much before she rounded on Naruto angrily.

"Argh you know I hate it when you do that Shithead!" Naruto just nodded while shrugging carelessly.

"Yeah but you also say you fight better when you're mad." Tayuya was about to retort but she had no good comeback for that. Instead her eyes narrowed evilly while a small smirk briefly danced across her features. She reached behind her and drew back out her flute from its latest pouch almost reverently before setting it against her lips. Naruto didn't seem in the least bit fazed.

"Come on Tayuya, you know Genjutsus don't affect me in combat." Tayuya's evil smile returned at these words like she had been waiting for them.

"Oh who said anything about a Genjutsu?" She blew delicately on the flute with a very specific sequence of air holes held down and the effect was immediate. To any normal listener no sound emerged from the thin instrument but to Naruto, his senses were flooded by deafening white noise that immediately had him on the ground, clutching the sides of his head in pain.

After seeing Naruto writhe around for a solid thirty seconds Tayuya finally stopped the torture and allowed Naruto to shakily get to his feet, much in the same way that she had done prior. He glared at Tayuya while he wiggled a finger in his ear, a look of pain still evident on his face while he waited for the ringing to stop.

"That wasn't funny Tayuya" She smiled, a genuine happy smile despite his rather heated gaze.

"I beg to differ Shithead, pretty hilarious actually." His eyes softened and his own smile managed to worm its way onto his face. He had missed this kind of interaction in the last few days, even though he could probably do without the ear-splitting headache.

"Fine, fine, are we going to fight properly now?" Tayuya just looked amused, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back slightly as she looked at Naruto with a grin. Naruto couldn't help but notice the placement of her arms as his eyes drifted down before he forcefully returned them to her face.

"What the hell are you talking about? I won." Naruto looked playfully hurt.

"That's it? That was hardly a fight Tayuya." She smiled again and disinterestedly looked down at her nails, ignoring Naruto.

"Yeah you're right, next time come at me with more of a challenge." It was said playfully but when she looked up Naruto was gone; without showing too much emotion she looked around, a little worried by the sudden disappearance. Just as suddenly as he had vanished Tayuya felt a presence barrel into her from behind and soon she was on the ground, straddled by Naruto, as he held her arms down grinning wildly.

"Okay, how's this then Tayuya-_chan?_" She glared at him for the name and struggled underneath him but he was a lot stronger than she was and his grip wouldn't budge. Eventually she let her head drop to the ground with an irritated grunt and Naruto stood off of her, still smiling manically. He offered her his hand and after a few moments of Tayuya's version of pouting, which included trying to kick Naruto in a very special area, she accepted it.

"Fair enough Shithead. I guess we're even today." He smiled happily and she couldn't help but be caught up in one of those infectious moods of his. For the briefest of moments she forgot why she had been avoiding him all this time. Of course at that moment the light streaming through the treetops caught him, lighting up his hair like a radiant inferno and she remembered, looking awkwardly down at the ground. Naruto sensed the sudden shift in her behaviour and not wanting her to start avoiding him again he quickly tried to find the root of the problem.

"Hey Tayuya, these last couple of days-"

"Naruto! My Protégé!" Naruto groaned as the highly over-enthusiastic voice cut through the clearing like a very unwelcome knife. Tayuya just looked around in confusion for the owner of the voice who quickly made themselves known. This time Naruto knew he was using fireworks; there was no other explanation for the bright lights swirling around the eccentric man as he entered the clearing.

"Who the fuck are you?" It was at that point that Jiraiya took notice of Tayuya, vanishing before appearing next to her making both of the younger Shinobi's eyes widen.

"Ah, such foul language from such a pretty young woman." Tayuya's cheeks immediately flared red at the compliment before her eyes turned murderous and she lashed out at the man. He swiftly ducked under the blow and took a few steps away on his ridiculous geta sandals which seemed highly impractical for a ninja.

"The fuck you say to me you ass-wiping paedophile?!" Jiraiya actually blanched at the insult this time, a large drop of sweat hanging on both his and Naruto's head. The older man gulped before nervously turning his attention to Naruto.

"I see you keep interesting company my young apprentice." Both Naruto and Tayuya narrowed their eyes at the veiled insult while Naruto was beginning to grow annoyed.

"Stop calling me that! I'm not your protégé." Jiraiya put on a look of mock hurt, sticking out his bottom lip ever so slightly.

"Is that any way to treat your sensei?" Naruto glared again.

"You're not my sensei either." This time Jiraiya pretended to be horrendously shocked in a very over the top and comical way.

"After everything I've taught you!" It was Naruto's turn to blanch at the older man, wondering in what direction the looney bin this guy escaped from was.

"What the hell have you taught me?" Jiraiya just snickered.

"What else? The art of love through my brilliant and priceless novels!" Tayuya stared at the man incredulously.

"You're the pervert that wrote Make-out Paradise?" As she said it she drew out the aforementioned book and stared at it with no small amount of disbelief. Jiraiya on the other hand couldn't be more thrilled as he looked at the girl holding his book.

"Another of my loyal readers!" he quickly turned to Naruto "This one is a keeper boy, never let her go!" Naruto was still speechless from the whole display, not sure what to make of it.

"Figures." Tayuya was about to tuck the book back into a pouch but not before Jiraiya grabbed it, quickly opened it to the back and signed the cover. Tayuya accepted the newly signed book a little cautiously, now very wary of this man's speed.

"Oi Shithead, just who is this fucker?" Naruto sighed; he had been about to sneak away while the other two were distracted but Tayuya called him before he could even move a step.

"That's Jiraiya, one of the sannin-" Jiraiya quickly cut in, not one to let somebody else announce him.

"That would be _Leegendary _Sannin! That's right, you're looking at the one, the only, Toad Sage Jiraiya! Breaker of hearts and wooer of women, author extraordinaire and handsome devil if I do say so myself." Jiraiya was too caught up in his announcement a missed Tayuya quickly add in.

"Because nobody else will." Naruto snickered at this, once again out of the notice of the carried-away sannin. Naruto motioned with his head to Tayuya and she quickly nodded, seconds later the clearing was down two shinobi. As Jiraiya finally came out of his rant he looked around with a cheesy grin only for it to drop when he realised the other two had abandoned him. He scowled while looking for the direction they headed in; not finding it his grimace quickly became a perverted smirk.

"The two lovebirds probably wanted some privacy." He walked off giggling, perverted thoughts in control of his mind for the moment.

* * *

Tayuya and Naruto came to a rest in a different training ground, panting from the exertion of running so fast, well Tayuya was at least. She sometimes really hated Naruto's seemingly undrainable energy, except of course when it saved her ass on missions, not that she would ever admit she needed him. She smiled as she thought about how easily they ditched the old pervert, one glance at Naruto showed that he was amused by it as well.

"For a Sannin he sure was a sucker." Naruto only nodded, smirking at Jiraiya's expense.

"Yeah, he's a massive pervert too. You know how I met him?" Tayuya waited for him to continue as he seemed to chuckle in his head about something, although his cheeks turned a little red. "I caught him peeping into the lady's hot springs." Tayuya's eyes opened wide in newly fanned anger towards the self-proclaimed super pervert.

"That old bastard, next time I see him I'm going to rip his fucking nuts off. See if he's got anything to gawk at after that." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the slightly impassioned speech but winced at her threat, what man wouldn't have after all. Even so Naruto was fairly certain Tayuya wouldn't be able to follow through on such a threat; Jiraiya was a Sannin for a reason after all and that title wasn't given to just anyone. However he wisely decided to keep that little opinion to himself. He looked across at Tayuya, seeing her smile thinking about hurting Jiraiya made him happy; it was like the kiss never happened.

"Hey Tayuya." She nodded absent-mindedly, lost in her violent fantasies. "I'm sorry." She looked across at him a little strangely, trying to work out what he was talking about so he clarified. "Sorry about whatever I did that made you avoid me all this time." Tayuya's eyes widened and her eyebrow raised itself in shock. _'He actually thinks he did something?'_

"You moron" She shocked him in turn by punching him lightly on the shoulder, not as hard as she did when actually angry with him. "You didn't do anything." He looked at her, this time he was the one who was confused and it showed making her sigh deeply. "It doesn't matter Shithead. Let's just forget it okay?" Not one to miss out on a chance like this he quickly and excitedly nodded before surprising the redhead by pulling her into a brief but warm hug.

She was so shocked she didn't have a chance to struggle before he let her go, still grinning that everything could just go back to the way it was. However inside both of them they knew deep down that something had changed; while neither knew what they knew it wouldn't be so simple for things to go back to normal. She gave him a mock scowl that looked convincing enough in payback for the hug before recomposing herself.

"Yeah, well you still got fuck-tons of training to do so might as well get started." He just nodded happily and once again she couldn't help but smile along with him. It was like the last seven years never happened and they were those two young runaways on the road again.


	20. Chapter 20

Naruto looked around in wonder and awe; he had never seen so many people gathered around in one place before. The stadium was massive yet he never even recollected seeing it before now, even when he was smaller he thought he would recognise such an enormous building. The stands were filled to the brim with people, all of whom were talking amongst one another, taking bets on the upcoming fights or simply waiting in unconcealed anticipation.

The arena itself was equally impressive in size, if a little dull and plain for his taste. There were a few trees off to one side but other than that not much else; even some kind of water feature would be nice. Not everybody was like the Nidaime Hokage and could create suiton techniques out of thin air. He looked around for anything that might be advantageous as the last of the spectators filed into their seats.

The massive open areas would suit his fighting style well but he could also say the same thing about the boy standing confidently across from him. Any sized area was suited to Neji's close-range combat style; it was just unfortunate that Naruto didn't have many long-range attacks. It irritated him to no end that he had a jutsu that could finish this fight in no time at all but he knew it would be extreme overkill to use. He shrugged to himself passively; if he was really struggling he would just use it anyway.

Naruto calmly awaited the initiation of the fight while simultaneously weighing up his opponent. He had plenty of chances to train over the month-long period every fighter had been given and he had used them to the fullest. He cursed the damn Hyuuga's fighting style; it was in direct contrast to his more heavy-handed attacks. Getting in close and personal with this guy would be bad for him; he had planned accordingly but it didn't mean he had to like it.

He looked up to where the Hokage sat in his personal box and smiled, before he noticed the conspicuously unoccupied chair to his left. His thoughts turned sour as he thought about Gaara and his father's murderer causing his hands to subconsciously clench into fists. He quickly stopped that; not wanting to give the impression the waiting was getting to him. He thought instead about Tayuya, how after the incident with Jiraiya everything had returned to some semblance of normalcy between them.

She had been a huge help in his training, having nothing to train for herself but keeping her skills sharp all the same. However all the times when he would be winning only for her to pull out that accursed flute really got to him. Sometimes he wished he had never bought the offending object in the first place, discounting all the times it had come in handy on missions. One day he was really going to have to come up with a solution for that so his enemies couldn't take advantage of it.

Suddenly he was violently brought out of his own personal monologue by the start of the match. He quickly noticed the very focused-looking Hyuuga running towards him and on pure reflex he sent chakra to his feet and used it to launch himself over the other boy's head. He hadn't expected the fight to start so soon but at least he had ticked off jumping ability on his little chuunin tick-list. He was under no illusions here; the objective was not to win but to showcase his abilities.

He brought up the list in his mind and at the very top of it were close-range combat skills. He groaned at the thought but nevertheless he rooted his feet to the ground and awaited the next charge of the pale-eyed boy. Neji got close and began lashing out with his deadly and incapacitating blows. Naruto's eyes widened when one stray blow for the Hyuuga's outstretched fingers managed to brush his arm. He was shocked because despite knowing that it had hit him he felt nothing from the contact.

He rushed back from the encounter, looking at the spot where a small red dot had appeared, signifying the loss of a tenketsu. He cursed the Hyuuga again, he didn't know the blows were also anaesthetised; that would be a pain if he didn't even realised he was being hit. Once again he found himself in close proximity with the Hyuuga, dodging for all he was worth the lightning-fast attacks. It was really just a good thing that Naruto was faster or so he thought at least.

He had looked up from his arm a little late too see Neji already striking out at his body again and again. It was too fast and too sudden for Naruto to counter, as he felt more and more of his chakra being sealed off. The violent and sudden attack finally let off and he was allowed to slump to his knees, his body currently useless from the neck down. He might have been scared right now if he didn't know about this ability beforehand.

As it was he was in fact prepared and, like promised, Kyuubi's chakra quickly flooded his body, forcing open the closed junctions in his Chakra network. It was only enough to do exactly that, no use alerting every high-levelled shinobi in Konoha with the foreign chakra. He smirked as he stood up, mostly because of Neji's disbelieving face as he looked at the boy who should have had difficulty breathing right now, never mind standing up.

Naruto used that hesitation to rush in and get a few solid blows to Neji's midsection before years of instinctive training kicked in and the Juuken attacks came back in full force. Despite Neji's newfound wariness concerning his opponent and his impossible abilities Naruto found himself in the exact same situation as before. All he could do was dodge the annoying fingers, unable to counter or retaliate, as he would have liked, especially now that his tenketsu could no longer be re-opened.

After a while, which he could tell by Neji's increasingly frustrated appearance, Naruto finally backed away from the close quarters confrontation. He figured that dodging Juuken blows for that long would be enough to get him a decent score in Taijutsu; next up came his favourite. He jumped back into the centre of the arena while Neji watched on, wary of what his opponent was attempting to do. Naruto quickly moulded the required chakra and went through the hand seals as quickly as he could without making a mistake.

"Wind Style: Rotating scythes jutsu!" As soon as he said it his body slanted at an awkward angle to the ground and he started windmilling his arms wildly like he was about to fall over. Neji thought that was exactly what was happening, believing his opponent had screwed up the jutsu. He began to run at Naruto, confident about taking advantage of his enemy's blunder before he could right himself. Naruto just smirked as his clenched fists opened up, his fingers outstretched like blades.

Everybody in the arena watched on, intrigued as the wind began to pick up when Naruto's arms sliced through the air. There were a few gasps as the air at the very edges of his pointed hands became white, forming a perfect circle that grew in to a wheel of razor-sharp air. There were even more gasps as the spinning scythe launched out from Naruto, directly at Neji. The running Hyuuga dodged to the side just in time to avoid the spinning wheel of air, only to see it dig a vicious gash into the solid stonewall behind him.

Naruto wasn't done yet though, quicker than before another wheel began forming and was quickly launched from his position. Once again Neji was forced to dodge as the even faster wind-scythe span past him, grazing his sleeve by a few centimetres. Naruto kept this up, launching one after the other at the Hyuuga who was unable to do anything but dodge the dangerous jutsu until finally he became overwhelmed and activated his ultimate defence.

"Rotation!" The sphere of blue energy erupted into life as Neji span around, releasing the required Chakra from his own tenketsu. He smirked as the blade he had been unable to dodge approached, clearly being able to see the Chakra-infused wind with his Byakugan. The smirk vanished when he noticed the blade of air neatly slice right past his normally impenetrable bubble, only some of the Chakra being lost.

He was hit full in the chest; the only thing saving him from a rather unpleasant end was the amount of Chakra that had been drained from the attack by his defence. Even so he now had a thin line up his chest where the spinning wheel met his body. Luckily for him Naruto couldn't maintain the jutsu any longer, coming to a stop on his knee with one fist on the ground. That jutsu always left him a little dizzy, perhaps after this fight he could ask how Neji managed it with his own spinning technique since he didn't appear dizzy at all.

He warily got up, noticing his opponent do the same, now sporting a thin cut through his shirt, which was slowly being stained red. It was hardly life threatening but if the fight continued on then it would work in Naruto's favour. Hopefully it would at least slow the Hyuuga prodigy down enough for what Naruto had planned next. He formed a now very familiar one-handed seal and instantly four more of him appeared, two on either side.

He hoped that a one-handed shadow clone jutsu would earn him some points in the judge's book but he couldn't focus on that now. He sent his clones off to attack Neji and they quickly surrounded him, approaching slowly as Neji looked around him. His Byakugan was confused by the situation, he had no idea which of the clones was the real Naruto, each one had identical Chakra and there was nothing else they were formed from.

He was even more surprised when one lashed out and he felt the air from the attack move over his now bent-over body. It was quickly followed by a tandem attack from the clone opposite, which felt equally real. Neji didn't know how that was even possible, he had heard of clones with solidity but none that were made out of seemingly nothing. He suddenly treated each one as a potential threat as he blocked, parried or dodged their perfectly in-time attacks that left him just on guard but not fully open.

He could feel them holding back for some reason and decided to take advantage of that. In a moment of respite after one clone had finished his attack and another was just beginning he lashed out with his foot and caught the third clone square in the chest. His eyes opened a little wider when it simply burst into smoke, causing him to cough slightly. He turned to face down his now-reduced opponents only for them to burst into smoke as well.

He furrowed his brow, wondering at the strange tactic as he tried to waft some of the smoke away from him. His opponent knew he had the Byakugan; he couldn't be planning on using a smokescreen unless he was an idiot. Speaking of which Neji noticed the absence of the fifth Naruto just a little bit too late as said original burst out of the ground underneath his feet, catching the boy in a solid uppercut that was enough to launch him a few feet backwards.

Naruto stood over Neji's crumpled body, checking him over to see if he really was out or he was just faking. Deciding that the boy really was unfit to continue he nodded with a smile before allowing the proctor to approach and announce him the victor. There was a momentary silence from the crowd as they stared down at the blonde-haired winner before it erupted into cheers. Naruto basked in the praise for a few seconds but didn't let it get to his head.

He also managed to hear more than a few groans as people ripped up their betting tickets; it would appear he was not the favourite for this particular match. That just widened his smile; sometimes it was good to be the victorious underdog; it made the achievement feel that much better. Maintaining his satisfied smile he shunshined out of the arena into the competitors box just for that added flare and allowed the next opponents to begin.

* * *

"Wow, I can't believe your teammate beat Neji."

Tayuya cringed at the sickly-sweet but familiar voice; she shrank into the seat hoping that for some reason Gaara was nearby and that was who Ino was talking to. She was proved wrong when the blonde sat down next to her, followed by the pink-haired girl who was part of their amusing double-KO. "He was the rookie of the year last year; everybody thought he was going to win this." Tayuya smirked at that, even if Naruto hadn't won Gaara would have wiped the floor with the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Don't be stupid Ino-pig, Sasuke will easily win this." Tayuya tried to inch away from the two girls as they argued, hoping that they would forget she was here.

"I don't know forehead, that Naruto guy looks pretty strong." Tayuya chuckled at the nickname, only now noticing the rather large forehead of the bubblegum kunoichi. It proved to be her downfall as the noise alerted the two arguing ninja of her presence once again. The pink-haired one that for now Tayuya would call bubblegum started to look her over critically, it made her really uncomfortable.

"Hey, why don't you have anything on your forehead protector? Aren't you from the Village Hidden in the Sand?" Tayuya groaned, looking for an escape from the boring and pointless conversation. She wished she could go to the competitors' box but she wasn't allowed. Instead she just elected to completely ignore the two girls, it didn't work last time but she held out hope.

"Shut up forehead, she's probably worried about her boyfriend. He took a bit of a beating from Neji after all." Tayuya had to try really hard not to respond to the obvious attempt at getting her riled up. Even so, she felt he eye begin to twitch out of annoyance and bit back the urge to bring out her flute. _'Must not kill Konoha kunoichi, must not kill allies, must not kill Konoha kunoichi...'_

* * *

Naruto appeared in the box to a fairly amusing sight; Gaara was staring at Shino and Shino was staring right back. The two stoic boys just looked at one another; Gaara's gaze was as unblinking as Shino's shaded glasses made him out to be. It was the most intense staring contest Naruto had ever seen and he was just captivated by it. However considering that Shino was next he decided to interrupt and coughed loud enough for both the quiet ninja to hear.

Shino turned to him and nodded in acknowledgement before he disappeared in a cloud of bugs, reappearing on the arena floor a few seconds later. Gaara just stayed quiet as Naruto walked over, a confused but bemused expression on his face as he looked at his friend. The two stood there side by side for a few moments, watching as Dosu also made his way down to the arena.

"I like him." Naruto smirked at his friends comment but refocused his attention to where the two new opponents were seemingly arguing.

* * *

"I said I forfeit." For the briefest of moments Shino let out a rather annoyed scowl; one wouldn't have seen it unless you looked for it. Hayate just narrowed his eyes at the Sound ninja, annoyed by this sudden turn of events.

"Are you sure about this? Once you forfeit you cannot re-enter the competition." Dosu merely nodded, his one visible eye warily watching Shino's silent and passive form.

"Yeah you heard me. I'm not fighting that bug freak after what he did to Zaku." Because of his mirrored glasses Dosu missed the evil look Shino was giving him, not that he would have wanted to notice anyway. Hayate just rubbed the back of his head, coughing into his hand a little, unsure about what to do.

"Um well okay then. DOSU HAS FORFEITED, WOULD THE NEXT TWO COMPETITORS PLEASE COME TO THE ARENA?" He followed the shout with a rather unhealthy bout of coughing into his hand. That in turn was followed by protests and booing from the audience.

* * *

Naruto watched as Shikamaru lazily got up from his position on the floor of the box. He walked over to the edge of the viewing area, looking like he was also considering forfeiting, however for different reasons.

"Uhh, this is such a drag." Lee suddenly popped up behind him, his eyes almost flaming with excitement.

"Come my youthful opponent, now is the time we must fight!" With that Lee patted Shikamaru a little hard on the back, too hard as he quickly stumbled forward to land painfully on his face down on the arena floor. By the time he had picked himself up Lee had already run down the side of the arena, happily hopping up and down in the middle of the stadium in anticipation. Shikamaru groaned again, grumbling more unintelligible complaints as he, very slowly, made his way towards where Lee and Hayate stood waiting.

Both Genin waited for the proctor to begin the match, Lee was still bouncing and Shikamaru was much more calm and collected. His hands naturally found their way together so his thumbs and index fingers made a circle between his hands. He was only now starting to regret not planning this match out in advance but at the time he found it too troublesome. He began to run through scenarios in his mind but always came back to the same idea based on what he knew about Lee, it didn't exactly look good for him.

Shikamaru would be the first to say that he wasn't good in solo fights, despite what happened in the preliminaries. He had merely been lucky in his circumstances and surroundings, not that it wasn't him who took those things into account and used them. Lee was exactly the opposite, practically built for solo matches thank to his extraordinarily trained body and lighting fast reflexes. Shikamaru wouldn't be like that until he began learning the rest of his family jutsus; he could have already but he much preferred to just lie back and watched the clouds.

He did that as he waited, leaned his head back and just chose a cloud, watching the white puffy accumulation of condensed water float lazily across the sky. It would be magnificent if he could be one, without a care in the world, just floating along without problems or troubles. His trouble for the moment was more focused on the larger version of himself in the crowd, thinking on how he would make his sensei proud in this match.

Both teens were distracted when Hayate finally jumped back so for a few seconds neither did anything, both lost in their own little world. Surprisingly it was Shikamaru who realised the match had started first and immediately used his family's most recognisable jutsu.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Lee heard the shout in time to instinctively jump backwards, a surprising distance too. He landed well out of range of Shikamaru's elongated shadow, watching it carefully; he had seen it in the preliminaries so he knew not to come too close. This of course posed a massive problem in that his fighting style solely consisted of up close and personal Taijutsu attacks. If he couldn't even get near Shikamaru then all of that was completely useless.

Without anything else to do the two opponents were at an impasse. Shikamaru couldn't move closer to Lee or he would be out of the extending affect of the wall's shadow and Lee couldn't get close to Shikamaru period. Both Genin contemplate their options and eventually it was Lee who came to a conclusion first, he would just have to be faster than the shadow. With that he launched himself forward, weaving and ducking randomly in an attempt to confuse Shikamaru.

Luckily for the young tactician he had already considered his opponents brash nature before he had even thought about making the attack. He withheld using his shadow until the last safe moment before unleashing it in one go. Five feet away from Shikamaru Lee froze in place, uncomfortably settling into the same slouching position as the lazy Nara. Shikamaru just smiled, already reaching for his shuriken pouch; Lee did the same but there was no pouch where he was reaching for.

Shikamaru lazily brought several of the shuriken out and stretched his arm back ready to throw them. He only intended to disable Lee so he lowered his aim for the boy's legs using the fluorescent orange leg warmers as a target. He let loose the spiralling metal with Lee copying the phantom motions and each one struck Lee's legs precisely. However the smile that had graced the normally apathetic boy's features dropped when the shuriken merely ricocheted off the leg warmers with a metallic clang.

A few tense seconds later and the leg warmers fluttered to the floor, ripped clean off revealing what they hid beneath. The two large ankle weights, which had likewise been severed, soon followed making a very noticeable crater in the ground as they slid off Lee's legs. The ever-excitable Rock Lee let out the largest smile imaginable and suddenly Shikamaru felt his hold on the jutsu weaken. Everybody in the stadium, Nara clan especially, gawked as Lee first took one step forward, followed by another.

Shikamaru couldn't believe what he was seeing, there was just no way anybody could be that strong. Even so the rivulets of sweat lazily making their way down his face told him otherwise as he struggled to maintain the exhaustive jutsu. His mind was in overdrive trying to come up with a solution to this new problem that he had not foreseen. Even as he thought, Lee was still making steady progress towards him, also sweating from the sheer exertion the simple act of walking put him through.

As Lee approached Shikamaru saw only one viable option left; he let Lee get a little closer, now no further than arms length away before lifting himself up and firmly smacking his head into Lee's. The two Genin just stared at nothing for a moment before they both lost their grip on gravity and fell to the ground, unconscious. Hayate jogged over, checking to see if either had managed to avoid falling asleep from the blow.

He approached, only for Lee to suddenly shoot to his feet, already in a fighting stance. Anybody that knew Lee wouldn't have found that odd; what they would have however was the fact that Lee was still completely unconscious. He swayed back and forth on his feet but his eyes were firmly shut and he was mumbling under his breath like a sleep talker. Hayate wasn't sure what to make of the situation; technically it was a double knockout but Lee was on his feet and apparently ready to fight.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment before withdrawing a shuriken and throwing it so it would pass close to Lee's head. The young Taijutsu master deftly caught the projectile, still fully asleep. Hayate guessed that made him still combat ready and quickly announced the match in Lee's favour. His sensei came down to carry both boys to the competitors box as the entire arena fell deathly quiet.

* * *

Naruto noticed the shift in atmosphere and looked around the stadium curiously, wondering why everybody now expectantly looked towards the competitor box. Gaara just walked off down the halls to the stairway leading down to the arena floor. That was when Naruto noticed the distinct lack of a certain red-eyed Uchiha, despite it being his match. He wondered where the boy could be, why would you be late for something like this?

Meanwhile Gaara stood calmly in his required spot, patiently awaiting the arrival of his opponent. Nervous whispers began to circulate in the stands as after two minutes Sasuke had still failed to show up. Gaara wasn't worried; he could wait for as long as was needed. Five minutes after the match was supposed to start and people were now really beginning to worry, it would appear that this was the match everybody had been waiting for and the main competitor wasn't even there.

* * *

"Hey, where's duck-butt?" Tayuya looked across at Ino and Sakura, both of whom were sporting the same worried and nervous looks that the rest of the betting audience were. Ino turned, scowling at the redhead while Sakura just looked confused.

"What do you mean duck-butt?" Ino doubled the ferocity of her gaze, which Tayuya only found amusing.

"You know... Sas-gay." It took her a moment but Sakura finally caught on, and immediately joined Ino in trying to burn a hole through her skull through the power of their combined will.

"Don't call Sasuke-kun that!" Tayuya took on an exaggerated mock-apologetic look with a hand on her chest.

"Oh I'm sorry I insulted your precious Sasuke-_kun._" She made sure to say it in as sweet and innocent a voice as possible, which only made it sound even less sincere. "I guess I'd be pretty scared if I had to fight Gaara as well." The other two kunoichi still seemed mad but their previous worry seemed to be overtaking them again.

"Sasuke will easily beat that sand guy!" Ino nodded after her friend but it didn't look all that sure. Tayuya just smirked, amazed at how easily the tables turned and she was the annoyer.

"Sure, sure."

* * *

After ten minutes the Hokage was forced to make a decision concerning Sasuke's possible disqualification for failure to show up. Luckily for the last Uchiha and all those betting in his favour he appeared alongside Kakashi, who rubbed the back of his head rather apologetically. After a brief conversation with an annoyed Hayate to see if they could still participate the Jounin retired and Sasuke took up his stance, ready to fight.

Sasuke eyed Gaara with caution, having seen what he did to Tenten in the preliminaries he felt prepared but not overconfident. Gaara on the other hand looked at the Uchiha with nothing more than indifference, choosing to actually sit down on the floor of the arena. Sasuke looked extremely angry with that; he had seen Gaara's sand defence before but he didn't think the boy would actually be this cocky about it.

Gaara maintained his cross-legged stance even when Hayate started the match. Immediately Sasuke rushed forward, throwing kick after kick at Gaara, only for his sand to spring up and block it every time. Gaara literally could have stayed there all night just waiting for the Uchiha to tire himself out attempting to breach his sand. As it was he was actually a little annoyed by how late Sasuke had turned up to the fight, even if he didn't show it.

He started bringing more sand out of the gourd to compliment what was already being used to block Sasuke's every attack. It started to circle him in a loose ring before expanding, slowly forming into a perfect sphere around him. Sasuke continued to attack the outside of the rock-hard sphere, searching for any weakness in the sand he could find. Soon the sphere began to expand, moving outwards as a dome that grew in circumference.

Now every time Sasuke attacked a spike would appear seconds after his foot connected with the dome. Only his reflexes saved his foot from being impaled and cost him the match. He began growing desperate as the sand continued to grow; now pulling the minerals out of the ground itself to feed it. He retreated up the wall of the stadium for some respite, noting that the dome continued to grow even in his absence, slowly approaching the wall of the stadium.

He narrowed his eye at the clever tactic; if he allowed the dome to continue growing he would be crushed against the stadium wall. If he tried to land on top of it his feet would only get caught and if he fled the arena the match would be forfeit. He had hoped he wouldn't have to use this so early but with gritted teeth he began to slowly draw Chakra into his hand. Soon it crackled around his hand as lightning, splitting the air with distinctive bird-like chirps.

"Chidori!" He took a deep breath before taking off from the wall at a sprint, rushing down while leaving rubble in his wake from the speed and the barely constrained attack. As he approached the dome, which would soon reach the boundaries of the arena he jumped into the air and in an obviously copied way he used the Inuzuka attack to spin wildly, Chidori held out in front of him. The drill-like attack worked and he quickly broke through the normally impenetrable sand to land with a cocky smile inside.

The smile fell off his face as he realised there was nobody inside the dome; it was conspicuously empty. The hole he had created ominously closed behind him before the dome began to retreat in on itself. Sasuke realised his mistake too late as the dome collapsed back into a sphere, him held hostage inside. There wasn't enough room for a Chidori and all he could do was back into the centre, awaiting the completion of his capture.

A minute later and he was perfectly held within the sphere, floating a few feet from the ground and curled up into a ball to prevent any bones from being broken. Gaara could have crushed him if he wanted but he left it like that. Everybody in the stadium watched slack-jawed as Gaara defeated the last Uchiha; held like an animal in a cage. Hayate announced Gaara the winner and he immediately dispersed the sand; Sasuke dropped to the floor in an ungraceful heap.

One sand shunshin later and Naruto was slapping Gaara on the back, congratulating him and mentally grinning at the humiliating way he had beaten Sasuke. He didn't have long however as before long he had to go back down into the arena to begin the second round of the finals. He looked over at Shino who calmly looked back, both nodded before making their way back down.


	21. Chapter 21

By the time Naruto had made it onto the arena floor the crowds had died down to a dissatisfied but dull roar. He could tell that there were still many people irritated by Sasuke's loss; he briefly wondered what that might mean for the last Uchiha but he put it out of his mind. Instead he decided to size up his opponent across from him; he reminded Naruto so much of Gaara. It was the way he stood, stoic and silent yet definitely confident in his abilities.

Naruto felt he had every reason to be. The Aburame clan's specialty was certainly impressive, if just slightly weird. He wondered how they were actually able to carry chakra-eating bugs inside their own bodies without dying. He was pondering whether or not it was some kind of summoning contract and the implications of that when Hayate finally began the match. Luckily the majority of Naruto's strategy for this match was staying stationary so he didn't need to move.

Shino was like Gaara in combat as well; staying still while his bugs took care of all the actual fighting. Naruto saw those same bugs quickly emerge from Shino, no doubt expecting Naruto to immediately rush into combat. He supposed he could have done that but it would have defeated the purpose of his next item on the Chuunin Checklist, patience. Naruto merely observed as an entire swarm of the little chakra suckers poured out of the unmoving boy. He was quickly surrounded on all sides in a small oasis of land that wasn't covered by the kikaichu, neither combatant having made a single move yet.

"You were foolish to allow yourself to be surrounded like that. The kikaichu will slowly drain your body of chakra until there is none left to take. You should forfeit now, save yourself the pain." Naruto just nodded with a smile on his face, taking the stoic Aburame by surprise slightly as the bug-user wondered what he was planning.

"Thanks for the warning, I just wanted to test your bugs, see how fast they really can drain chakra." In honesty Naruto was already beginning to feel the effects, chakra was slowly being sucked from his body, seemingly through the air itself though much less than they could have if they were directly on him. He fought back the urge to drop down on one knee, the effects were truly exhausting but he managed to maintain his posture and even crossed his arms a little, acting bored.

The crowd was confused, after Naruto's last fight they had at least expected some action or a good show, instead both boys were merely standing there. To make it even worse Naruto appeared to be allowing himself to lose, letting his energy be siphoned off into the kikaichu. Shino didn't show it but he was both surprised and impressed; his bugs were working at full capacity and Naruto was still standing. That alone was a feat in of itself and Shino could at least commemorate him; nobody had lasted this long before.

However that begrudging respect quickly tuned to worry as a minute went by and Naruto showed no visible signs of fatigue. He hadn't moved a muscle once except to reposition himself and was now lazily looking around the stadium. That worry increased tenfold when he realised that many of his kikaichu had begun returning to his body, unable to absorb any more chakra from Naruto. In essence they got full from eating his chakra. To say that Shino was surprised would be one hell of an understatement; that had definitely never happened before.

"How are you doing this? Nobody has this much chakra." Naruto finally acknowledged the Aburame, turning to face him with a large smile.

"Oh good then at least it's working. Honestly you had me a little worried there for a while. I thought I had misjudged how much your bugs could ingest." At this point Naruto began noticing that the ring of insects surrounding him has gotten smaller and was still decreasing as more and more flew back to their host. When about half of them were gone Naruto began walking, slowly at first but increasing his speed.

The kikaichu moved to intercept him but they were sluggish and weighed down by their exhaustive meal. He easily dodged the lazy attack and was quickly approaching a startled and unprepared Shino who could only watch as Naruto moved closer. He couldn't form a bug clone quick enough so he dropped into his family's taijutsu stance. He was uncertain about the outcome of this match now as Naruto had kept up with Neji so he would easily deal with the Aburame's less developed taijutsu.

However the bug-wielder was surprised when Naruto merely stopped a few feet away from him, not bothering to attack. He quickly understood why when he felt the cold steel of a kunai press up against his neck. He could only turn enough to see a smiling Naruto behind him, holding said kunai with the intent to use it if Shino moved an inch.

"At least tell me how." Naruto pondered the request for a moment and nodded curtly.

"Okay, I knew I might be facing you so for the entire month we had to prepare I started sealing as much of my chakra as I could into temporary seals across my body. All I did in this match was release them when I started to feel your kikaichu feed of me. They fed on my old chakra and I held onto my own." He smiled all the way through the explanation and Shino had to admit it was incredibly smart; pointing out a large flaw in the Aburame's attack plan.

However he felt secure in the knowledge that Naruto was only able to pull off the feat thanks to having the appropriate knowledge beforehand. There was nobody on earth with that much chakra to attempt this unprepared, but even so Shino would definitely be having a discussion with his father about this later.

"Thank you for showing me a flaw in my strategy." Naruto nodded politely again as Shino raised his arm to signal he was forfeiting the match. Once again the crowd seemed dissatisfied with the outcome, nothing exciting happening at all. The Aburame clan however had watched riveted to the entire display. They were equally as intrigued as Shino was by Naruto's fore-planning and even the clan head had to commend the young genin's strategy.

Naruto on the other hand was pretty pleased with himself. Shino didn't seem that bad so it was nice that he didn't have to hurt him. He saw what Gaara meant when the stoic sand-wielder showed his like for him. They walked out of the stadium together, Naruto towards the competitors' box now that he was guaranteed a place in the finals, and Shino towards his family in the stands. As they did so Gaara once again entered the arena, Lee matching his shunshin with an over-excited sprint to win.

They managed to arrive at the same moment; much to many peoples' shock that Lee could actually beat a shunshin just by running. If Gaara was also impressed he certainly didn't show it; he merely began drawing out sand from the gourd, already preparing himself for the same manoeuvre that defeated Sasuke. He figured that if it worked then there was no use in trying something else. Lee was also preparing in his own way by removing his ankle weights early; he had asked Guy earlier and was given full permission.

When both genin appeared ready Hayate jumped backwards, very far backwards if this fight would be anything like Gaara's last one. Instantly Gaara was preparing the dome of sand however he wasn't expecting the sheer speed that Lee now possessed without his ankle weights. In a literal flash of movement Lee disappeared, reappearing almost instantly at Gaara's side much to the Ichibi jinchuuriki's shock.

One hard and swift kick later Gaara found himself hurtling backwards out of the protective influence of his sand. The gourd on his back broke down just in time to cushion his otherwise painful fall; even so he managed to leave a small trench due to the sheer velocity the kick managed to send him. Before he could even stand up he felt Lee's foot connect again, flicking him up into the air quite violently.

It didn't stop there, somehow the taijutsu prodigy managed to launch kick after bone-breaking kick at Gaara, obviously springing back off the floor each time just to reconnect with Gaara's body. It was all happening far too fast for Gaara to properly process what was happening. Once he was high enough into the air, namely level with the actual stands, Lee had wrapped him up in bandages and they were already travelling down spinning wildly like a miniature tornado.

"Front Lotus!" The cry came out instants before both competitors drove harshly into the ground, Gaara head first with Lee using that to cushion his own fall. Lee backed away from the crater as the crowds of people looked on in wonder and shock. Once again there was the general moan of people who lost a lot of money betting on Gaara when the smoke cleared, revealing his motionless form. Lee made a gleaming smile as he looked up into the stands, to once again gain his sensei's approval.

His celebration was cut short as a massive whip of sand slammed into his undefended side, sending him hurtling back across the stadium. The crowd's attention turned to Gaara once again, standing completely unharmed back where he had started the match. Those who hadn't been focused on Lee saw him rise up out of the ground, apparently having been there the entire time. The shell of a body that still remained in the crater slowly dissolved back into sand before rejoining the rest of it floating around Gaara.

Now Gaara knew how fast Lee could travel he wasn't going to allow the boy to get the upper hand again. He sent out tendril after tendril at the spandex-wearing boy, each one smashing into the ground with enough force to cause small tremors. He normally didn't let his emotions get the better of him in combat but he was slightly angered that Lee's attack may well have hurt him had it not been a sand clone taking the beating.

Lee on the other hand now found himself dodging left right and centre as arm-like constructs of sand filled his vision, drawing their form from the ground underneath him. He managed to dodge each one but as they backed him into a corner he was finding it increasingly difficult. Soon that entire side of the stadium was covered in dust as Gaara kept up his relentless assault, determined to simply bat Lee out of the stadium itself, even if that meant through the floor.

Finally he stopped, sensing no more movements behind the veil of dust and debris that was only now allowed to settle. Gaara stayed where he was, wary for any signs of movement inside the smothering cloud of smoke and dust. He didn't even look tired from the exertion of moving that volume of sand; in fact his arms were still crossed over his chest. By the time his sand had fully retreated back to him, now forming a thin ring, which orbited him slowly, the dust had settled enough to see... nothing.

Lee was nowhere to be seen in that side of the arena; in fact it appeared he had vanished completely from the stadium. Gaara cocked an eyebrow, curious as to where his opponent had vanished. So far Lee had shown no attempts at using ninjutsu or genjutsu so it made a lot of people curious as to how he had simply vanished without a trace. Their questions were answered when everybody in the stadium simultaneously heard a distinctive whistling pierce through the eerie silence.

"SEVERE!" A small black dot appeared over the stadium, rocketing down at tremendous speed.

"LEAF!" That dot quickly resolved into Lee's spandex-coated form that now sported a fair few rips along its surface.

"HURRICANE!" Lee's body impacted with the stadium in an almighty crash, powerful enough to send an enormous blast of air into the stands. The ground around the impact zone rose up for a few seconds as the laws of displacement struggled to compensate for Lee's crash. It came back down as physics righted itself and a crater worthy of a meteorite was revealed from the dust and debris. In the centre stood a panting Lee whose skin had inexplicably turned red and his eyes had lost their entire colour.

There was no sign of Gaara anywhere and Naruto worried for his friend's safety for a moment. It was premature however as not too long after Gaara rose from the ground, the dust and dirt having covered him to the point of invisibility. He looked suitably shocked by the attack; his eyes were wide. The reason he had survived unscathed at all revealed itself when fragments of what appeared to be his skin dropped off of his body.

The sand armour fell away from his body, his mind unable to hold it together as he reeled from the devastating attack. He was lucky that it took a few moments for the newly changed Lee to even realise he was still standing, enough time to right himself and begin pulling sand clones out of the ground. First two, then ten, then fifty clones rose out of the ground; they were fed from the earth itself even though it took a fair amount of Gaara's considerable reserves to manage.

By now Lee had figured out his attack had failed and went about the newly reconfigured stadium, making short work of all Gaara's clones. Each was swiftly removed from existence as he blurred about the stadium like he had no mass whatsoever. However many he destroyed though Gaara would just create more. They didn't actually do anything though, merely standing around just waiting to be pulverised by Lee's Strong Fist style.

Gaara used them as a distraction to retreat from Lee's unimaginably fast form and start to concentrate for what he needed to do. Anybody watching him, and a fair few people were by now considering Lee was moving too fast to be seen by the naked eye, would have seen his sand begin to drain into the earth. He closed his eyes, feeling the vibrations in the earth that Lee was making through the tiny streams of sand beneath the surface of the ground. Taking a large breath in to steady his nerves and concentrations Gaara took on an extremely focused look.

"IMPERIAL SAND NET!" Before the last word was even out of his mouth thousands of strings or sand, burst out of every corner of the stadium, crossing over one another until razor-sharp lines of sand crisscrossed every meter of the arena. Lee was stopped in his tracks; he couldn't even move a muscle or risk slicing himself into pieces. Lee actually smiled when he realised the only part of his body that he could even move was his arm so that he could forfeit.

He did so quickly before Gaara decided to actually complete the lethal jutsu and all the sand immediately dispersed back into particles. The crowd was left stunned and speechless at the display of sheer power each combatant had given. Naruto too was shocked, he had realised Gaara had been working on something for the past month but he never would have suspected something of this calibre.

With a gulp he contemplated what other attacks his friend might be withholding from him in preparation for their fight. With another gulp he realised that moment had in fact just arrived as Lee was walked out of the arena by his sensei. With a breath to calm himself and a moment to plaster a smile across his features he jumped out of the box and joined Gaara on the arena floor. He looked across at his oldest friend and thought back to all the times they sparred in the past; something told him this would be quite on the same level.

As they both eyed each other up the tension in the stadium was palpable; many preconceived notions about how this chuunin exam finals had been completely and irrevocably destroyed. The odds were swinging in both directions with no clear favourite, although after the last fight there were a few more opting for Gaara. They were given a brief five-minute interlude for Gaara to regain his lost chakra but Shukaku was already taking care of that.

Both boys smirked as they looked out at one another, even they didn't know how this fight would turn out. They had been fighting one another since they were eight years old; when one got the upper hand the other would just improvise and turn the tables. Naruto produces a set of lengthened kunai from his sleeves, infusing each blade with a fair amount of wind chakra. One was held out in front of him in a guard position while the other was behind him, held in a reverse grip for speed.

He considered bringing out his favourite technique but again he didn't want to use it in front of all these people, there would be far too many questions later on. He opted for a few oldies that might catch Gaara off guard. Nobody knew Subaku no Gaara like Naruto, that's why he knew Lee almost had the right idea. Rushing Gaara was a good ploy, getting in close was where he was weakest; the problem lay in knowing if you were fighting Gaara at all.

Naruto was dropping into a very low crouch that would aid him getting that little extra burst of speed when the first feather fell from the sky. He watched it, completely mesmerized by the way its soft white form lazily drifted back and forth. A goofy smile split his face as his eyes moved back and forth, back and forth, just watching the feather float in the breeze. It was completely out of his knowledge that there were hundreds more, identical to the one that so captured his attention, also falling from the sky.

All around the stadium the people who didn't recognise the genjutsu drifted off to sleep while the shinobi in the crowds started looking around for the cause of the mass illusion. They were only momentarily distracted by the massive burst of smoke from the Hokage's box before enemy shinobi began appearing out of the sleeping denizens of the crowd. Before anybody could react to the Hokage's danger everybody found themselves fighting off hordes of enemy ninja, each proudly displaying their allegiances with musical notes on their headbands.

Gaara was currently attempting to wake Naruto up from his genjutsu induced lullaby as Tayuya joined them, having jumped down from the stands. One burst of chakra later and Naruto was up, his eyes opened wide from the shock-like nature of being ripped from a genjutsu. He looked around in a semi-daze, confused as to what exactly was going on. However he saw Konoha ninja fighting Sound ninja and that was all the knowledge he needed.

He was about to rush off to help when he noticed the enormous purple box that had erupted in the Hokage's box. Fearing for the old man's safety he took off at pace, leaping and dodging past dueling shinobi. He was running like a dog, on all fours using his claws to dig into the earth and propel himself even faster. Gaara and Tayuya were having trouble keeping up and only managed to do so thanks to Naruto stopping on top of the roof where three ANBU stood watching the fight develop inside the translucent barrier.

"What's happening?" One of the ANBU turned to them; he was wearing a mask that gave him the appearance of a rat.

"The Hokage is currently engaging in combat with the Sannin Orochimaru behind this barrier. We are unable to breach it and must trust that our Hokage can handle the situation." Naruto cursed under his breath; he knew some fuinjutsu but would never declare himself a master. If the ANBU could do nothing then he stood no hope of helping.

"We were instructed by the Sand Village to offer our aid in the case of emergency." The ANBU looked over the three, his eyes narrowing underneath his mask in suspicion. However right now they couldn't afford to be picky with their help and he quickly nodded.

"Fine, there is nothing you can do here. Go help the other shinobi repel the Sound ninja attacking from the outside." Naruto nodded back, his face now set in a determined grimace as the three set off in the direction the most noise and smoke was coming from. Naruto looked back in time to see Sarutobi going toe to toe with Orochimaru. _'Come on old man, I know you can beat him.' _That was all Naruto had time for as they rounded the corner of the street and entered a war zone.

* * *

Naruto dodged another punch from an older Sound ninja, ducking under the rather sloppy blow as he grabbed the man's sleeve and used his momentum to launch him into a nearby wall. He raced after him before the man had even made contact and pulled him out of the miniature crater. He threw him again, this time with more force towards another approaching shinobi, who took the blow full in the chest.

Naruto swiftly moved on, finding more free opponents in the mess that were the streets close to the wall. He swerved in a panic as masonry and rubble suddenly fell from the sky around him, forcing him to weave and duck or be crushed underneath. He turned to see the cause of the potentially fatal destruction to see the biggest snake he had ever seen. The worst part was that its dull-lifeless eyes were staring right back at him as its tongue flicked out of its mouth once.

"Oh crap"

* * *

Gaara felt more like he was sweeping a room free of dust than fighting of deadly attempts on his life. His sand swept through the unsuspecting and ill-prepared hordes of enemy ninja, suffocating and beating them into unconsciousness without any real effort on his part. Kunai and shuriken flew in every direction, always being intercepted by his automatic defence before it could come close to causing him harm.

His difficulty was discerning friend from foe, sometimes it was difficult to fine-tune his control to just the Sound shinobi when everywhere was so densely packed. He had to consciously control his chakra-laced sand so it would only attack his enemies. Right now he was calmly walking through the brawling masses, creating his own eye of the hurricane in a few feet around him in every direction nobody could even get close.

Inside that little bubble of protection were a few children, between the ages of six and nine. They were kids who hadn't had time to be evacuated and currently Gaara's sand was protecting them like they were the jinchuuriki themselves. He was walking them through the battle in the direction of the closest concentration of Konoha shinobi who could lead them to the safety of the bunkers. It had started with one kid who had seen how he was protected and before he knew it there were almost fifteen of them, all huddled around his body in fear.

* * *

Tayuya was having the most fun of the three, dancing through the battle like a merry pied piper. Her fingers raced across her flute like they were possessed, weaving more and more intricate genjutsus that served to confuse, disorientate and generally slow-down the enemy. Currently she had a group of Sound nin fighting among one another; half of them thinking the other were the enemy. Anybody that came across her quickly believed that their flesh was melting right off their body or that the ground itself was swallowing them alive.

Powerful shinobi would come into her vision only to leave it as cowering balls of tears that were easy pickings for the Konoha shinobi. Like the Pied Piper she had managed to assemble a group of the Konoha genin, namely Shino, Lee, and Tenten. They managed to deal with anybody intelligent or strong enough to break out of her genjutsu's quickly enough. They worked well as a cohesive unit, dealing with stragglers that Tayuya left behind while protecting the girl herself.

Tayuya had previously been annoyed with Lee for her rather humiliating defeat at his hands. That quickly bled away when the boy managed to save her from a very large Sound-ninja who had rushed her blind spot with a kunai poised for the kill. Lee had jumped in and managed to swiftly take out the man, all as Tayuya watched on, unable to do anything while her hands, or more specifically her fingers, were busy.

* * *

Naruto cringed back into himself as he looked around his dark, fleshy prison. He shuddered at the feel of the slimy substance that coated everything and did everything in his power to not allow it to get in his mouth; it wasn't working. He struggled about as he thought about just how the hell he had managed to get eaten by a snake the size of a building. _'This is not how I am going to die! I am not going to be some snake's lunch!'_

He slashed about with the wind chakra-infused kunai only for the rubbery walls to wobble when he struck them. He couldn't get enough leverage behind the blows to do any real damage and when he did all he got for his troubles was some blood sprayed in his face. It was hot and sticky and made the blonde wan to throw up but he persevered. It still had no effect and he could feel himself get drawn even further into the fleshy tunnel; right now he was just glad that snakes ate their meals whole. _'Right that's it!'_

"MULTI SHADOW CLO- Bleugh!" Even as the jutsu took effect more of the gunk managed to get in his mouth. From the outside the shinobi battling the vast snake only saw it pause for a moment before its body began to writhe uncontrollably. One part of its long scaly body expanded suddenly, giving way to hundreds upon hundreds of Naruto clones as its body exploded from the sheer number of them.

Snake blood and guts rained down on the battlefield, covering Konoha and Sound shinobi indiscriminately. The hundreds of Naruto clones poofed out of existence as the original was finally allowed to fall over on his hands and knees, as he voided the contents of his stomach in a violent manner.

* * *

Every fighting shinobi felt it as the general retreat was called while Orochimaru was seen fleeing the sight of his battle, now a veritable forest atop the roof. The Sound shinobi all retreated as one, still being cut down or captured by the Leaf nin as they attempted their hasty escape. Naruto didn't bother to run after them, leaving it up to the Konoha ninja, which he realised, had been rather severely reduced in number.

Instead he began making his way back through the battlefields looking for any signs of his teammates. He spotted Tayuya first, her vibrant red hair easy to pick out from the surrounding masses. She quickly helped him locate Gaara, still managing to have a few wayward children cling to him that felt safer with the 'sand man' than in the shelters. Naruto held back his laugh for their sake but he would definitely note that down for later.

They had to make jokes, what they had seen was gruesome and if this was how they coped with it then all the better. Dead shinobi littered the street from Otogakure and Konohagakure alike, the Shinigami held no preferences or reservations. They searched through the damaged streets some more; helping to find injured or stranded ninja and civilians. Naruto still couldn't believe the paths of destruction the massive snakes had carved through the village.

Entire lines of houses and shops were flattened, reduced to barely rubble and dust. The walls didn't look that much better, gaping holes littered the once mighty and impenetrable wall and in some areas it was still crumbling. Hyuuga's picked through the rubble, using their kekkei genkai to locate anybody still alive or trapped in wrecked homes or storefronts. While in the heat of battle Naruto had barely noticed all the destruction but now that it was all over there was nothing else to look at.

* * *

It was a relief for everybody when night finally came; after many, many showers Naruto finally crawled into bed. The Inuzuka compound managed to come out of the ordeal fairly unscathed thanks to it's out of the way location. He wrapped his arm around Tayuya's waist more tightly than usual, unintentionally using her as a comfort. He felt her slight shivers; despite the tough facade she put up he knew she had seen more than her fair share of bloodshed and death today.

Despite his or her careers, seeing somebody die in front of you, enemy or friend alike never got any easier. Before he finally allowed himself the embrace of sleep he let out one last fleeting thought for the friends he had made in his brief stay in the village. He hoped they were okay but right now it was most important that the girl he was clutching was still there. He didn't know what he would do if Tayuya were ever hurt, or worse, killed.


	22. Chapter 22

Rain poured in sheets from the darkened sky, each droplet like a little senbon ribbing more and more of Naruto's skin from his body. Every splash was like a gong reminding him of everything he lost as he looked out over the throngs of people gathered around. All eyes were focused to the front of the roof where a simple wreath lay before a closed coffin. Naruto's eyes were fixed on the plain framed photo in front of it; it was smeared and distorted by the relentless rain but Hiruzen's face was still visible.

It was a photo from his first day as Hokage, with his arm around his wife's waist and a gleam in his smile he looked ready to take on anything as he first put on the Hokage robes. It wasn't supposed to be a day of mourning, but a day of remembrance of celebration of the Third's time as the leader of the Leaf village. Somehow that didn't manage to brighten up the atmosphere as people openly cried for their lost leader.

Naruto wouldn't allow himself to cry, it was unfitting of a shinobi, but even so the near tidal wave of emotions threatened to break that self-imposed rule. Before him lay the first person to ever treat him as a real human being, to actually show him the smallest amount of kindness. Nothing would ever take that position in his heart, nothing ever could; he would always be Naruto's first precious person.

The ceremony dragged on; it sounded horrible to put it like that but it was how Naruto felt. It was like a never-ending torment to stand here and listen to people talk about the old man, even if it was special and memorable moments from his life. The only moments Naruto cared about were those fleeting talks they would share, the secret praising smirks Hiruzen would give him after a prank and the one time the old man had let him wear the Hokage robes.

That one memory actually made Naruto smile, even if it was only briefly before the pouring rain re-dampened his spirit. The cloak had been ridiculously over-sized and Naruto was constantly tripping up however every time he did so Hiruzen was right there to catch him. The most amusing part was wearing the hat; it dwarfed Naruto's head to the point of completely obscuring his vision. The Hokage had called it a vision of a future to come; now Naruto could only look back at it as a past that might have been.

Naruto had difficulty laying down the white flower that was clutched in his trembling fist, he reached out his hand but the simple plant just would drop. He could only stare at the framed photo, willing this all to be one terrible nightmare and he could wake up to see him one last time. He felt something clutch his hand and warmth spread from that contact; he looked around to see Tayuya next to him, also looking at the portrait. He finally let the flower drop into the growing pile atop the coffin before letting the red-haired girl lead him away.

There were only a few people in the line after him, dressed in the same black mourning clothes. He paid them no heed, too lost in his own thoughts to even notice as the service finally came to a close, the rain finally letting up as it did so. Nobody would notice the solitary tear that finally managed to crawl out of Naruto's eye. It just blended in with the countless droplets of rain that soaked through his form.

* * *

Naruto sat on the bank of the lake, looking out over the peaceful, calm waters like he had done for the past three days. Tayuya and Gaara had come to see him many times, neither attempting to move him or coerce him to do so in the slightest. They understood that he would start training again when he felt ready, when he had allowed enough time to pass to deal with the loss of a pseudo father figure.

Naruto didn't say much when they visited but he was sure they understood that he appreciated their company. Tayuya was especially helpful; she would come and just sit next to him for a while, never saying anything, just sharing in the scene with him. Surprisingly it was Gaara who was the more talkative one, telling Naruto of some of the kids who had begun to follow him around ever since the invasion. He had actually managed to get Naruto to laugh yesterday, the first real sign of his recovery.

Like always he smelt the newcomer before he heard them even clear their throat, Naruto said nothing, not particularly caring what this ANBU was here for or what he had to say. When the black and grey clad man saw that he wouldn't get a response from the jinchuuriki he approached, somewhat cautiously. Naruto should have expected as much considering the ANBU were some of the few privy to his status as Kyuubi's container.

"I have been instructed by the temporary council consisting of Homura and Koharu to talk to you concerning your current allegiances." Naruto actually quirked an eyebrow at this, turning a little to see the wolf-masked ANBU properly.

"What about them?" The ANBU remained impassive, despite the obvious venom in his words.

"They wanted to ask about the reason behind your headband." Again this caused Naruto to raise his eyebrow in surprise and suspicion.

"The reason I don't carry the Sunagakure symbol?" The ANBU nodded, equally dispassionately. "None of their business." Naruto couldn't see it but he was sure the man's eyes narrowed after that statement.

"They also asked me to inquire as to what your intentions are now." Naruto finally turned fully, standing up from his spot for the first time in three days, already feeling the associated stiffness ease off his muscles.

"My intentions? I intend to do exactly as the Suna council asked me to do, to help our allies in the event of an emergency situation." Once again Naruto felt the piercing suspicion emanate from the operative as he gave that same reason.

"I was informed by the council that if that were the case you were to report to the Hokage tower to be assigned into a temporary team with a shinobi from our village." Naruto nodded slowly, he could ask this man why that was but he felt it would probably be better to get those answers from the source.

"And my teammates?"

"Have been similarly informed." Naruto nodded again, all the confirmation the masked man needed before he shimmered away in a small shower of leaves. _'Not really the types for long conversations those ANBU, good thing I'm used to Gaara.'_

* * *

"WHAT?!" Anko's loud scream actually caused Homura to wince slightly before twisting a finger inside his ear to clear the ringing.

"I thought the situation would be quite clear Miss Mitarashi. Is there something specific you do not understand?" He managed to keep his voice quite level, despite the pounding headache that threatened to overcome him. He wasn't quite sure how he and Koharu had managed to get stuck with being substitute Hokage for the time being but he was beginning to respect his old teammate just that little bit more if this was what he had to put up with on a daily basis.

"Yeah, tell me again why I'm getting stuck with a bunch of snot-nosed genin?" Homura sighed for the fifth time since Anko had entered the office, while the chair was certainly comfy he wasn't sure it was worth it.

"Like I already said Miss Mitarashi-" Anko eyed him dangerously.

"Stop calling me that!" Sigh number six managed to escape his lips.

"Like I already said Anko, the village needs all available resources acting at full strength. While we appreciate your abilities in covert operations, right now we need to focus more on those missions that actually get noticed. If other nations catch on to the fact we are in a weakened condition they will no doubt take advantage of that." Anko growled something under her breath that didn't sound all that pleasant.

"Yeah but why me? There are tons of jounin that don't have squads!" Homura leaned back in the chair more, his fingers subconsciously reaching up to rub his temple.

"And each will be getting equally important missions I assure you." Anko didn't seem at all pleased with the answer but before she could complain again Homura cut her off. "Anko there is really nothing you can do about this, when a new Hokage is instated you can take it up with them, until then the village is under mine and Koharu's direction and I assure you that she will back up what I have to say." Anko's argument died on the tip of her tongue as she leaned back with her arms under her ample chest.

"At least tell me who the little gakis are." Homura finally allowed a smile to trace his old features.

"Oh, I think you've met them before."

* * *

Naruto walked out into the training ground flanked by his two friends; they had all arrived at the Hokage's office to be told that they would meet their new jounin instructor here. Naruto had wanted to ask who they would be getting but after thinking about it he realised he didn't actually know any of the jounin level shinobi in the village anyway, discounting Kakashi and the proctors for the Chuunin Exams.

Tayuya had already told him the Kakashi had students, including 'duck-butt', who Naruto correctly guessed was Sasuke. Tayuya and Gaara seemed happy that Naruto was moving around and would soon go back to training but there was no mistaking the fact that he was quieter now. Both could sympathise, having lost estranged parental figures themselves, Gaara his 'father' and Tayuya the old woman from her village.

He tried to banish these thoughts from his head as he moved into the training area, an out of the way, fenced-off forest near to where the forest of death was. They calmly waited for fifteen minutes, none of them saying anything even though it was soon fairly obvious that Tayuya was getting annoyed at their 'sensei's' absence. Naruto was off to one side, flicking through the pages of his little orange book while Gaara sat Indian style with a ring of sand slowly rotating around his body.

Tayuya was the only one left without anything to do; she could have practised her flute but she needed the right mood to do that in, irritated and frustrated was not. She also couldn't even read like Naruto because she had left her copy in their room by mistake. Normally in that situation she would just take Naruto's but somehow he had managed to get onto the next book so she would be completely confused by what was going on.

When fifteen minutes had turned into thirty Tayuya began to pace and Naruto sore he could see the steam begin to pour out of her ears in the periphery of his vision. He just hoped their sensei was good at getting out of genjutsus or they were in for an unpleasant couple of hours. This was also rather exciting for him, for as long as he had known his only real teachers were Baki and Kyuubi, it would be an interesting experience if nothing else.

Finally they heard somebody approaching from the direction of the forest and everybody except Naruto turned to face it, only for a very large snake to emerge from the trees and slither into the middle of them.

"Sssssssup?" All three teens looked at the snake curiously, it was about the length of a tree and as thick as Naruto's body. It was a mottled green colour with two very deep strips of black running the length of its body, it unsurprisingly managed to be quite intimidating.

"You're our sensei?" The snake just looked at her in what Naruto guessed was the snake equivalent of exasperation.

"No child, I'm here to..." He hung his head as if the next thing he had to do was the most embarrassing thing in its life "...introducccce her." It looked around for a few moments, sending glancing looks back into the forest while its tongue perpetually flickered in and out. It gave a hiss that almost seemed like a sigh before it rose its head up in mock pride and called out at the top of its lungs.

"INTRODUCCCCCING, THE ONE AND ONLY, QUEEN OF SSSSNAKESSS, MISSSSTRESSSSS OF DANGO, ANKO MITARASSSSSSSHI!" The snake seemed to just slump over, a very, very irritated gleam in its eye before poofing back to wherever it was it came from. In its wake the training ground erupted into a miniature hurricane before the woman herself appeared in a tremendous swirl of leafs. Anko appeared with a victorious grin holding her hands on her hips; Naruto could almost see the imaginary cape fluttering behind her.

She opened her eyes, expecting to see awed faces and excited genin looking at her in wonder. Instead she got two boys who were completely ignoring her, one meditation and the other reading, whilst the redhead was just staring at her murderously.

"You're half an hour late." Anko glared back with just as much conviction.

"Hey, it's not like I'm Kakashi or something. A great introduction like that requires planning." She looked around, expecting at least a nod of agreement from Naruto; she thought he understood her prankster side. Instead the blonde just tucked in the corner of the page he was reading, closed the book and stood up expectantly. Anko's shoulders slumped a little seeing that nobody appreciated her work yet again.

"Well whatever, I'm your new jounin instructor. Here." She threw each of them the standard chuunin flak jackets which they all deftly caught. "Congratulations, you're all officially chuunin rank."

"All of us?" It was Tayuya who asked the question, rightly confused that she too had been promoted. Anko just looked at her disinterestedly; still miffed nobody had liked her entrance.

"Yeah, I don't know, something about the way you fought during the invasion or something like that." Tayuya didn't complain for once, she was just happy that she wouldn't have to retake the exams in six months without her teammates to back her up. She wasn't saying she needed them but it wouldn't be the same without them.

"What about Hana?" Anko stared at Naruto with proper irritation while he just smirked, rubbing his nose subtly.

"Damn you kid, why do you have to ruin our introductions? Okay come on out Hana, they know!" They heard a small commotion from further into the forest and what sounded suspiciously like somebody falling out of a tree.

"What about the fireworks?" Anko just put a hand to her forehead, looking for all the world like she just wanted to kick something until it stopped moving.

"Leave the fireworks, there's no point now!" They heard more commotion from the forest before Hana Shunshined into the clearing next to Anko.

"I told you they would find me." Anko turned to her with a very irritable expression in her eyes.

"You could have told me the gaki had some kind of super sense of smell." Hana shrugged sheepishly while a dark cloud seemed to descend over Anko before she forcefully dispelled it. All this time the three genin-turned-chuunin had watched on in part amusement and part annoyance. Naruto loudly cleared his throat and both jounin turned, this time both looking rather sheepish as they rubbed the back of their heads.

"Um right, well I'm not your full time instructor because I'm only a tokubetsu jounin, as is Hana, that's why we'll take it in turns." After a round of surprisingly acceptant nods from their new students the two kunoichi breathed a small sigh of relief. Anko turned to Naruto suddenly, a very curious look in her eye now. "Okay pleasantries are over; we all know each other blah blah blah. First order of business is why the hell you're under a genjutsu." Anko sighed happily, that had been bugging her ever since the Forest of Death.

Naruto for one seemed shocked, but not all that surprised; Tayuya had assured him the genjutsu would be tough but she also figured that most jounin wouldn't be able to sense it. He looked around at his teammates; Gaara just shrugged, not particularly caring either way while Tayuya had calmed down enough to do likewise.

"Well okay I guess but it's probably best if I showed you." Hana and Anko nodded eagerly, now both very curious about what it was Naruto was hiding, both with very different ideas as to what it could be. Naruto stood up from his position on the ground and clasped his hands together in a seal familiar to everybody.

"Kai." He didn't even shout it, it had become second nature to dispel or apply his personal illusion. He shimmered for a moment without the normal flash of smoke to signal the loss of the illusion. Seconds later he stood, mostly unchanged but with a few very key differences. His claws once again were visible, extending from his fingers in a noticeable fashion as they gleamed in the sunlight. Likewise his proper ears were also free and happily twitched atop his head like a diver coming back up for air.

His whisker marks became deeper and more defined, more scar-like but without any of the disfiguring features. His canines elongated in a similar fashion to his claws, poking out of his mouth even when closed. The final and most noticeable of all the features was the addition of three bushy and very excited blond tails that trashed behind him expectantly. Anko and Hana just stood transfixed by the sight, taking in Naruto's new appearance with wide eyes. He briefly wondered if this had been a bad idea, already imagining being dragged off to some ANBU jail.

"That." Naruto flinched involuntarily as both girls spoke in unison.

"Is." He unconsciously backed away, preparing for his dangerous flight from the village.

"AWESOME!" He opened his eyes that he hadn't even realised he had closed in shock, that wasn't the reaction he had been expecting. When he did so he found Anko very much inside his personal space, closely examining his whisker marks with scrutiny. He also felt something lightly brush one of his tails and looked around to see Hana looking at them with the exact same amount of intent as her friend.

"Wow, no wonder you use a four-legged taijutsu style. These must provide great balance."

"Can you feel things with these whiskers?"

"How do you stop people standing on them?"

"How hard are the claws?"

"Why three tails?"

"Do you have them on your feet as well?"

"I wonder what a hickey would feel like from somebody with fangs?" Naruto just managed to stammer through the questions with various umms and ahhhs as they came fast from all directions. He felt like a piece of art in a collection being evaluated for auction. The last question managed to catch him off guard the most, but not more so that Anko suddenly grabbing one of his tails and rubbing it against her cheek.

"Mmmm soft." Naruto spun in surprise, yanking said tail out of her grasp, leaving her to pout like a child with its toy taken away. It was actually so adorable that he considered just giving her the tail back but her shook his head of it, mumbling under his breath about girls managing to control his life. He spun around again to find Hana and Anko looking at him expectantly before he realised he hadn't answered a single one of their questions.

"Um yes I can feel things with the whiskers. I tuck them into my pants to stop people standing on them. I haven't found anything that breaks my claws yet and yes they are on my feet as well." Anko and Hana seemed pleased by the answers before Hana frowned, realising he had missed one, much to Naruto's displeasure.

"But why three of them?" He sighed, his shoulders slumping at the same moment. He gave a pleading look towards his friends who could only offer him shrugs and helpless looks that made him want to seriously break something.

"It shows how much of the Kyuubi's power I can safely use." He winced involuntarily, already expecting the hateful looks and harsh comments like 'demon' or 'monster'. Instead when he opened his eyes he only saw the two kunoichi even more interested than before. Before any more awkward and invasive questions that he really didn't want to answer came up he quickly pointed in Gaara's direction.

"Hey he's a jinchuuriki too, interrogate him!" The two jounin looked at Gaara curiously, Anko coming close enough that the sand in his gourd began to twitch dangerously.

"So why don't you look like that as well?" Gaara merely narrowed his eyes into a glare; something Anko wouldn't have thought could look so frightening coming from a fourteen year old.

"Shukaku and I don't have a great dialogue." He left at that, making it very clear he wouldn't say any more on the topic. Anko backed off; Gaara could pull off the 'psycho' look if he wanted to and she kept that in mind for future reference. She turned back around to Naruto, giving his true form one last look.

"Alright fuzz-ball, you might want to cover up again, some of the villagers won't be quite as understanding as we are." Naruto nodded sadly, he already knew that of course, and re-did the genjutsu, with Tayuya's help to strengthen it. Anko coughed loudly when they were done, looking over the three of them again, taking them all in.

"Okay now that little... tangent has been taken care of onto the second order of business; you're all moving in with me." All three chuunin looked at her skeptically, even Gaara.

"Why? We already live with Hana." Anko smiled at them devilishly, a look they knew all too well by now that spoke of trouble in the future.

"Let's just say I like to start training early and the Inuzuka compound is a little far away for my tastes." Hana looked at her in irritation but quickly softened the gaze as she recognised what Anko had planned. She sauntered over to Naruto, coming behind him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pouting cutely.

"Aww is Naruto going to miss me?" The boy in question instantly reddened, almost passing out from the insinuation behind the honey-laced words. It was at that point that Anko noticed Tayuya fuming off to one side, shooting looks at Hana that she knew too well. She filed that information away for future reference as her smile grew even more devious. She let Hana walk back over to her side, leaving a very embarrassed and confused Naruto in her wake, before continuing.

"Alright, next up I've been told to say that you guys need to wear these." She held out three identical Leaf forehead protectors and the three chuunin just stared at them.

"No." The simple, level answer came from Gaara, he crossed his arms over his chest but it wasn't a petulant manoeuvre, he simply did not want to wear it. "My loyalty is and always will be to Sunagakure." Anko looked at him for a moment and found she couldn't really hold that against him, he was the son of a Kazekage after all. Next she turned to Tayuya who likewise had placed her arms under her chest.

"No." Anko waited for a few moments for the girl to continue.

"Any particular reason?" Anko had been curious as to the reason Tayuya didn't wear any symbol on her headband.

"My loyalty isn't to any fucking village." Anko narrowed her gaze, it sounded like how a mercenary would feel, or more dangerously a missing-nin. "It's to Shithead over there." Everybody in the clearing did a double-take, looking at the proud redhead curiously, Naruto especially. "Where he goes I go, simple fucking as that." Anko just nodded, albeit after she managed to get the amused and inquisitive look off her face.

"Well then fuzzball you seem to be the lynch pin here. Let me guess, you're not going to take the forehead protector either?" Naruto shook his head with a small smile and Anko sighed, it seemed that was a common occurrence around these three.

"Not for the reasons you would think though." He took of his forehead protector allowing his shaggy bangs to fall forward in front of his eyes. He carefully removed the metal plate from the headband and flipped it over to show a faded but no less visible leaf symbol. Anko was just full of questions around these kids, they were more interesting than most of the people she knew.

"Where did you get that?" She was somewhat fearing the answer by this point; it wasn't uncommon practise for people to claim the headbands of shinobi they defeated or killed.

"When I left the village I sneaked into the academy and took one. I never figured I would be back to explain that though." Anko just smiled, she wasn't there when Naruto had left she was in Sea Country; it made her involuntarily shiver and reach back up to the spot on her neck. Naruto noticed the action and remembered something Kakashi had told them more than a month ago.

"Oh, Kakashi told us to ask you about Orochimaru's curse marks." Anko's head shot around so fast Naruto feared she may have kept going, her eyes boring a hole through his skull.

"Why would you want to know about them?" She didn't realise her hand was still firmly clasped on her neck, a spot that Tayuya knew too well because she rubbed it too. Hana was worried for her friend; people had gotten injured when Anko talked about her old sensei or his last 'gift' to her.

"You have one too don't you?" It was Tayuya asking the question and Anko turned to look at her, almost hesitantly this time. Naruto was surprised at how soft and fragile her voice sounded, and without a single swear.

"Too?" Tayuya nodded, drawing back her shirt just enough that Anko could see the mark. The older woman quickly did the same, revealing an identical tomoe pattern. She looked sadly down at Tayuya who merely stared back defiantly.

"I don't need your pity; I'm getting this shit off of my neck." Off to the side Naruto nodded enthusiastically and the sight made Anko smile.

"Yeah well when you do that, let me know will you." She straightened up, hiding the mark once again with her trench coat and setting her face back into its normal chilling smile. "Well no point talking about the Pedo and his weird ink fetish anymore." It made Tayuya chuckle a little "Come on, might as well get packed and moved into my place."

* * *

They spent the next few hours moving what few possessions they had brought with them from the Inuzuka compound to Anko's apartment. It was actually pretty large, more so than Naruto would have expected for somebody living on their own but it turned out Anko received the same stipend check that he had when he was still living here. She wouldn't tell them why but it was obviously a sore topic so everybody dropped it.

Anko had given Tayuya the most amused expression imaginable when she had plainly started bringing her things into the room Naruto had chosen. He had actually been a little surprised at first, imagining that they would have the same relationship as when they were in Suna. However it seemed to be more of a 'fuck you' to Anko more than anything else if the look she had given in return was anything to go on. It clearly said 'and what?'

By the time they were all settled in it was dark, Naruto had already tried to have some of the dango in the pantry, only to get chased around the entire apartment by Anko. It wasn't even a playful chase, her hand held a kunai and her eyes spoke of terrible, terrible tortures. After that everybody learnt that around Anko, Dango was off limits, much to Tayuya's grief. Naruto found it once again strange how much animosity there was between the two women; he would have thought that with so much in common they would have easily become friends.

They stayed up for a while, mostly talking; Anko was supposed to do some stupid team building exercise where she asked each of them their likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams etc. However she got the general idea from what they said and it didn't really seem all that necessary considering the three new each other since they were kids. Finally Anko asked the question that had been itching at the back of her head for a while now.

"So how long have you two been together then?" She was definitely looking right at Naruto and Tayuya when she said it however the insinuation was completely lost on the blonde.

"What? Me and Tayuya? I found her when I was seven, a few weeks after I left the village." Anko smiled like the Cheshire cat, moving her head in closer while lowering her voice to a husky whisper.

"No, I mean..." She rolled her eyes and motioned with her head between them "...together." Once again Naruto looked confused, puzzling out what the woman was talking about whereas Tayuya immediately turned red.

"We fucking aren't together!" Anko raised an eyebrow bemusedly.

"But you sleep together?" Naruto still looked confused as ever while Tayuya only grew angrier.

"We sleep in the same bed, you have no idea how warm shithead over there is." Anko's other eyebrow followed the first.

"Oh really? Maybe I'll try him out some time." Naruto didn't quite like the way Anko looked at him when she said that and was still confused about what the hell was going on. Eventually the conversation wound down and turned to more mundane things like previous training and the like. Gaara turned in first, complaining that there had been too much excitement in one day after Naruto being inactive for so long.

Anko had already gone to bed, warning that anybody who entered her room without her permission, for some reason looking at Naruto as she said it, would meet a swift and bloody end. Naruto and Tayuya likewise retired, both were just as tired as Gaara, even though neither was the type to ever admit things like that. Naruto would always want to be known as the one with boundless stamina while Tayuya just didn't like admitting weakness.

They settled into the large and surprisingly comfortable bed, Tayuya immediately curling into Naruto's body. They didn't notice the door creak open and somebody silently shuffle in. A few flash of light later and Anko walked out, clutching the camera with a cheeky grin. _'Too perfect, just too perfect. Not together my perfectly toned ass!'_


	23. Chapter 23

"Okay, come at me gaki." Anko stood a good distance away from Naruto in a large field, the furthest training ground from the village. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the name but smirked anyway; after a week of grueling intensive training he was finally allowed to spar with their latest sensei. Anko took on a very different approach to Baki, while their old sensei was content to let them go about their own training how they saw fit, she took on a much more hands on approach.

"You're going to regret letting me fight you Anko-sensei." The older woman gave an even bigger smirk than her pupil; however this one was quite a bit more frightening. Naruto used that as his queue to attack, sprinting in on all fours, covering the distance in only a few moments giving the woman only seconds to go through hand seals.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" The call came out seconds too late as Naruto vanished at the last possible moment, reappearing only a moment later behind the woman to deliver a kick to her head. Much to his surprise Anko dodged, ducking under the kick while at the same time swivelling her entire body and raising her arms in his direction. Instantly at least a dozen snakes shot out of the baggy sleeves of her trench coat.

Naruto quickly found himself entangled up to the neck in the writhing vipers, one positioned very close to his neck. He figured it wouldn't be a lethal snake but he never could tell with Anko, even if he was immune to the poison the snake could do a lot of damage with its powerful jaws. Luckily his arms were slightly loose in their coiling bonds and he was able to get off a few hand seals without Anko realising.

"Wind Style Shielding Blades Jutsu!" He called it out quickly before the snake could attack and almost instantly large spinning disks appeared around his body, slicing the restraining snakes to mincemeat. After they poofed back to where they came from Naruto dodged rapidly to the left, avoiding the hail of shuriken that emerged from the smoke and pivoted quickly, using his claws for purchase. He used the new found momentum to launch himself to where he smelt Anko, her scent of Dango and scales easy to pick out.

Unfortunately all he got for his troubles was the woman's trench coat, hung up on a stick dug into the ground. He had pounced on it without thinking, relying far too much on his instincts and before he could rectify the mistake cold steel was pressed up against his throat.

"You're fast gaki, I'll give you that. But this is the muscle you need to be exercising." She knocked him on the head once, playfully but still enough to hurt.

"I'll keep that in mind Anko-sensei." And with that the clone popped out of existence, leaving a confused and irritated Anko clearing the smoke with her hands. Before Naruto could use that smokescreen to his advantage the woman sunk into the ground, leaving a normal clone in her place. The real Naruto watched from the trees with interest, he already knew it was a clone but he was debating on whether or not to spring the trap anyway.

"Come out of the ground Anko-sensei. You might get your clothes muddy." He used a neat trick Tayuya had taught him to throw his voice some way across the forest so it would sound like he was in the trees on the other side. Anko poked her head out just a little, looking in the direction she thought he was, wondering why he would give away his position. Naruto used that opportunity to launch a few Kunai at her.

Immediately Anko tried to sink back down but when one of the kunai henged into a shadow clone she was pulled out by her hair. Naruto threw the older woman across the clearing where she flipped to land gracefully on the trunk of a tree. She didn't even give him time to follow up before she was running through hand seals lighting fast.

"Fire Style Dragonfire Jutsu!" Naruto looked around in confusion, he was sure that jutsu needed some kind of conductor. He spotted the slight shimmer of wire down by the base of the tree he was in and followed it back to its source. There was an entire network of ninja wire all connected by a single kunai in the middle of the field, surrounded by the ones he had thrown earlier. She had used them as cover for her own trap, a trap that was now racing down the wire near her and spreading out all across the field.

Naruto had to abandon the tree he was in, flipping down to the ground before it was engulfed in fire. He sighed in annoyance, fire techniques always annoyed the hell out of him; luckily they came as a double-edged sword to the user.

"Wind Style Great Breakthrough Jutsu!" Naruto released the huge gust of wind from his lungs, sending it careening towards Anko. The gale caught the flames as it went, sending them into an inferno as the oxygen ignited and soon Anko had to jump out of the way as her own technique was used against her. Never one to give up the advantage she sent a small hail of senborn in his direction, each laced with trace poisons.

Naruto dodged as best he could, taking the ones that he couldn't in his arms as he used them to cover his more vital regions. He felt the sting as the poisons circulated through his veins, quickly being cleansed from his system as Kyuubi broke down the more harmful toxins. Unfortunately it slowed him down long enough that Anko managed to catch him unawares as she dropped down from the sky, quickly pressing her kunai into a much more precious area that Naruto's neck.

"Okay Anko-sensei, you got me." He held up his arms in defeat, but slowly so Anko would think he was trying to attack her. One twitch from her hand and he wouldn't be having any kids in the near future, at least if what Hana said was true.

"Nice fight gaki, maybe someday you'll actually be as good as me." Anko released him with a small push, unbalancing him for a moment allowing her to trip him up. Once he was on the ground she quickly sat on his chest, idly picking at her nails with the edge of the small blade. "But probably not." Naruto just blushed in the compromising position, Anko wore a very short skirt and he could feel something soft where she was sitting on his stomach.

Anko noticed his discomfort and rubbed her body back and forth a little, smiling broadly at the shade of red his face went. She leaned in closer to his ear, whispering softly in a husky voice.

"Do you like me sitting here gaki?" Naruto's eye twitched and Anko was fairly certain the boy was about to pass out so she got up, much to Naruto's relief, but not before she gave his ear a little lick for good measure. Anko sighed happily from the teasing, only now noticing that she was still without her trench coat. She walked over and pulled it off of the branch sticking out of the ground and threw it around her shoulders.

As she did so a small orange book flew out of one of the pockets, skidding across the ground to land next to Naruto. He picked up the small book, looking at it with unhidden amusement, noticing the well-read pages with noticeable wear and a few stains from red bean paste. Anko rushed back over, snatching the book out of his grasp and quickly replacing it in her pocket, this time buttoning it back up.

"Gaki, you tell anybody about this and I'll make sure a few of my scaly friends visit you in your sleep." Despite how serious he knew the threat to be Naruto couldn't wipe the smirk off of his face.

"Of course Anko-sensei." They both stood up, wiping some dust off of their respective clothes, an awkward silence permeating the air. "How many times have you read it?" Anko hung her head down, an almost visible raincloud hanging overhead.

"Six" It was a whisper, and not a very proud one. Naruto couldn't hold back the laughter after that, he had only given her the book as a joke and he never expected women except Tayuya to actually read it.

* * *

A week later and the five of them were sitting around in a circle in that same training ground, sans the battle damage from Anko and Naruto's spar. All three chuunin looked suitable worn out from the intensive training under Anko and Hana's joint tutelage. Tayuya had been made to focus on her taijutsu and ninjutsu to account for the weakness her over-dependence on genjutsu had caused her.

Gaara merely focused on what he always did, refining and controlling his sand, something Anko and Hana had been perfectly fine with after witnessing just what he could do with it firsthand. Recently he had been focused on training in his father's techniques, finding the magnet release extremely difficult compared to the ease with which he could control his own sand. Even so, he persevered and was just now starting to grasp the basic ideas behind it, actually managing to levitate and control the fine gold dust to a degree.

Naruto had actually helped him by suggesting he incorporate the gold into his own sand, to lighten the need for just magnet release. His abilities had soon sky rocketed after that as he learned the more basic elements of the nature release. Naruto had felt proud that he could help his friend in such a way, however that didn't make his own training any better.

Out of everybody Naruto had the harshest time, Hana focused on Tayuya to hone her taijutsu while Gaara could work on his own so Naruto was left with Anko as his personal tutor. To say that she was a slave driver would have been doing the ancient Egyptians a kindness. It had only worsened when she found out about the possibilities of shadow clone training. Naruto of course knew about the benefits, what most people didn't understand were the massive drawbacks that were part of the reason the multi-shadow clone jutsu was a kinjutsu.

While training with a few dozen clones in a day could accomplish a few weeks worth of training, the sudden influx of information from that many clones dispersing was enough to drive most people insane. As it was, it gave Naruto the worst migraines imaginable, making him irritable and short-tempered until it cleared a few hours later. Anko merely told him that training wasn't supposed to be enjoyable and to be lucky that he was even able to endure this kind of strenuous training.

In the end they reached a compromise that Naruto would only do half of his training this way, limiting the headaches to a dull, near-constant throb. The only other drawback was that clones couldn't train his body, which was why while they were off practicing ninjutsu or taijutsu techniques he was stuck working his body. Normally he wouldn't have minded that, he enjoyed physical exercise as much as the next shinobi, but not when you had a very loud woman eating dango while sitting on your back like a purple-haired Yoda.

Apparently Tayuya had it almost as bad with Hana, despite all their preconceptions that she was kind-hearted and fair, she turned out to be just the maniacal sadist that Anko was. At least that answered the question of why the two were such fast friends despite their supposed differing personalities. Then again in that regard Naruto and Gaara shouldn't have been friends but then friendship is no fun without somebody to challenge and rival you.

While Tayuya's taijutsu was hardly weak it still couldn't compare to Hana's years of intensive training in the Inuzuka style. It lead Naruto to believe that if she had gone up against Kiba in the chuunin exams she might have met the same fate as Lee. Tayuya may have been one of the most intelligent and strategising people he knew but she had a terrible tendency to underestimate people and hold back on her true abilities.

Hana was currently beating this habit out of her, in some cases quite literally, with training as equally intensive as Naruto's. Although for all their faults and sadistic tendencies Naruto had to admit that the two tokubetsu jounin made great senseis. Even so, that didn't lessen the intensity of the gaze he and Tayuya were levelling at the two older women. The last week had been hell; the only relief was that instead of launching into their training as per usual Anko had brought them out here for a 'treat'.

"Alright gaki's, I bet your wondering why we aren't going by the normal routine today." The glares levelled in her direction only increased, causing her to smirk. "What do you know about killer intent?" This caught the three chuunin unawares and they blinked a few times at the question, widening Anko's smirk. "Well you're in luck, my sensei pretty much wrote the book on it and now you get me to hand that secret down to you." None of them missed the spite with which she said the word 'sensei'.

Instantly all three of them felt a wave of pure hatred and malice wash over them; looking into Anko's eyes was like watching their own deaths unfold in increasingly horrific manners. When Anko finally let up she was a little disappointed to see that only Tayuya seemed to have been really affected, even then the girl only looked a little startled. It was normally a lot more effective; she had even made one guy pass out after soiling himself when he touched her ass in a bar. She huffed a little, annoyed that she was either losing her touch or these kids had some strong wills.

"Well it's basically a genjutsu that you focus through your eyes. It's strange in that it feeds of your negative emotions, be it pain, anger or fury. It sort of like a doujutsu that anybody can have I guess. Though women have more of a knack for it then men do in my experience." She went through the next few minutes explaining how it worked and how to channel chakra to their eyes. They found it fairly easy considering all of the chakra control exercises they had gone through.

Tayuya went first in practising and Anko immediately felt the hatred in her glare, even she had to admit that it was good, almost on par with her already. It was to be expected from one so focused in genjutsu but even so that she had gotten it so quickly was impressive. Gaara went next; using all the new found control he had gained from is magnet release training to focus the stare. Anko noticed that his eyes actually changed a little, becoming completely pupil-less and bloodshot. She wasn't sure if it was because he was a jinchuuriki but it certainly made her feel frightened, which was good.

Naruto went last, out of all of them Anko figured he would have the most difficulty. While it was good, he still had the worst chakra control out of the three of them and he always seemed so happy so she didn't think he would get the technique that well. What came next would be a moment she would remember for a long time. Naruto's eyes became bloodthirsty, terrifying even, she couldn't even tear herself away.

It was like he was pouring all the pain and anger from a thousand lifetimes into one look. Like Gaara's his eyes changed, becoming red like the colour of blood with the pupils turning into jagged slits. For a fleeting moment Anko believed she was looking into the eyes of the Kyuubi itself and she was frightened to the core. Naruto noticed this and immediately let up, taking the chakra from his eyes. Anko was left panting and shivering from the intensity of the killer intent, the fact that he had been so happy beforehand only added to the terror.

"G-Good, that was good Naruto." He looked at her curiously, wondering where his nickname went before Anko managed to pull herself together. She was a trained shinobi, well used to the killer intent from her old sensei and from her interrogation job, if Naruto could do that to her, then he could do a lot worse to others with such a technique.

"Alright, you seemed to get that pretty quickly, keep working on it but gaki..." She looked straight at Naruto when she spoke "...don't use that technique on somebody, even for practise, unless they are definitely an enemy." Naruto nodded slowly, unsure why she was telling him this; he would never try to frighten anybody he cared about like that. "Anyway, I'm giving you guys the day off. Go rest or mess about, whatever the hell it is kids do now," Naruto shot up.

"Hey you're only like four years older than us!" Anko smirked, she purposefully riled him up with that, she just needed to see the proper him for a moment to wipe out the memory of that horrible glare.

* * *

Naruto lazily swung his legs off the side of the bed; he had been waiting for a while now for Gaara to get ready so they could go to the onsen. Both of them were worn out from the training and Anko had recommended they relax there for a while to ease the tension in their muscles. Naruto couldn't disagree with her, as long as they didn't run into any perverts this time he figured they would be okay. After all, the last time he had been sure it was working, although if he heard giggling he wasn't liable for the pervert he would strangle.

Finally Gaara came out of his room; going to baths was always worrisome for him because he couldn't take his sand, which left him feeling very vulnerable. His sand and water didn't mix well and it left him heavy and ineffective. There would be earth he could break down at the baths of course but it wouldn't be as effective as his chakra-laced sand. He did have his father's gold dust now though, which offered him some protection, but not the extent his armour would.

"You know, you could just take the gourd and _not _take it into the actual bath with you," Gaara stared at him with an evil look that clearly said 'And you didn't tell me this sooner because...?' Naruto sighed deeply as Gaara returned to his room to retrieve his gourd before he heard a knocking at the door. He wondered who it could be because Tayuya and Anko were out together getting dango while Hana was on a tracking mission.

He couldn't think of anybody else who might be visiting, or even knew where he lived right now. With that in mind he resolved it was probably somebody coming to see Anko. Even that confused him, even in the short time he had known her it was fairly clear that her only real friend was Hana and they wouldn't be receiving missions yet, Anko had told them as much. It left him confused and curious as he opened the door, only to see the three-tomoe eyes of a fully matured sharingan looking right back at him.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" The voice was cold, emotionless and dangerous, even more so that Gaara could hope to achieve and Naruto immediately knew who this was. Even if he didn't recognise the man from his picture in the bingo book, there were only two other living people with the sharingan and this certainly wasn't Kakashi.

"Itachi Uchiha?" Naruto didn't mean for it to come out as a squeak but the man cast an intimidating shadow and he had been caught unawares. Gaara heard him and came rushing out of his room, gourd back on and Sand armour already coalescing around his body.

"Ahh, the Ichibi container. Sasori will be disappointed but I suppose we must use the opportunities presented us." That same flat, monotone voice again, like it was trying to remove all the emotion from the very air.

"How did you find us?" Itachi didn't even raise an eyebrow; instead he just motioned with his head and walked out into the corridor. Naruto and Gaara felt compelled to follow him; already Naruto was forming a plan, Itachi might have been Konoha's second most-wanted S-rank missing-nin but he and Gaara were jinchuuriki. They should have been able to take him on together; of course that plan fell apart when they moved out and saw that Itachi was not alone.

"Huh, two for one eh Itachi? Aren't we lucky?" The eldest Uchiha didn't even bother answering his companion who was too busy thinking of way they could make capturing them easier, dismemberment being at the forefront of that list. Naruto stared him down, the rubbery blue skin and gill-like markings on his cheeks, plus the scratched Mist Village headband were a dead giveaway to his identity.

"Kisame, grab them both. We have to move quickly before we are detected." The shark-like man just nodded with a gleeful but sadistic smile as he approached the two boys, already drawing the bandaged sword from his back. He was much faster than his bulky appearance would have suggested and in a flash he was in front of Gaara, bringing his massive weapon down in a blow that would have surely ripped Gaara's arm off if his sand hadn't sprung up to meet it.

Unfortunately for Gaara he wasn't aware of the abilities Samehada possessed, not that many people were left alive to recount them. The blade quickly absorbed the very Chakra holding Gaara's sand defence in place, the particles falling uselessly to the ground like their Chakra-void counterparts. It only slowed Kisame's strike, but enough for Gaara's eyes to widen and for him to move out of the way. The shark-man looked disappointed that he had failed to draw even a single scratch but was glad he was more than a match for the Ichibi's 'legendary' defence.

"Samehada will enjoy feasting on jinchuuriki Chakra today," he advanced again, playful sadism in his eyes, looking ready to tear every limb off their bodies.

"Kisame, if you do not hurry up I will be forced to end this quickly." The blue-skinned man sneered in annoyance, not getting the chance to toy with his prey, as he preferred.

"You're no fun Itachi." The Uchiha didn't answer, not that Kisame was listening. In all this time Naruto had pretty much stood frozen to the spot in indecision. That changed when he saw Kisame advance on Gaara again, this time with the intention on maiming the boy. Naruto wasn't going to allow anybody to hurt his friend and charged the Akatsuki member head on; throwing out kunai from his wrist seals in such numbers that it surprised even him. Kisame merely used his swords bulk to block all the projectiles; they harmlessly bounced off the wrapped sword like they were made of paper.

"Alright Kyuubi container, I had decided to go numerically but if you insist on being the first to feed Samehada then I won't stop you," he smiled, showing off his sharpened, pointed teeth as Naruto halted mid-attack seeing that it was useless. Luckily, or unluckily considering one's viewpoint Itachi finally decided they were out of time.

"You wasted time Kisame, now I have to deal with this." He suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, looking the boy dead in the eyes, as the world around them seemed to melt away. The colour scheme of the corridor shifted, before it vanished completely, replaced by a simple field under a red sky. It felt cold, cold and uninhabited, like Naruto was the only person alive in the entire world. Soon Itachi rose from the ground like it was water beneath him and took to staring Naruto in the eyes again.

"Welcome to my Tsukuyomi, here reality is mine to control and for the next seventy-two hours you are nothing more than my plaything." The tomoe of his eye had warped into a new pattern, like a three-pronged pinwheel. Naruto knew this had to be a genjutsu but nothing he did, from stabbing himself in the leg to disrupting his Chakra, would break it. "Please Naruto, it is pointless to try and escape this place, hours in this world are nothing but seconds in reality. Even if your comrade were to somehow awaken you it would be too late. To you it would have already been hours of experiencing what I choose to do here."

Naruto wanted to answer but he suddenly felt very strange, warmed even as a presence seemed to fill him up before leaving him. Before his eyes Kyuubi seemed to melt out of his body, dropping to the ground gracefully on her four paws before looking at Itachi with the most murderous look Naruto had ever seen. Gone was the elegant and graceful Kyuubi that Naruto had come to know over the years, this was a vicious and powerful biju that saw something that angered her.

**"You."** It was a growl so deep that even Naruto was a little frightened by it. In front of him he saw Kyuubi begin to change, her fur dropping off in clumps as she straightened herself up. Her vulpine features shrank back and became more human as furry paws gave way to slightly tanned hands. Clothes appeared on her body quickly and soon the woman was dressed in something like a monks outfit but in black with stripes of orange. Likewise a large coat, not dissimilar from Anko's materialised around her shoulders, it was a deep orange, the same colour as her fur and had a pattern of nine tomoe arranged in a square in black.

Finally red hair, bordering on orange, cascaded down her back, coming to a stop around her thighs where nine tails continued to sway about. Naruto couldn't see her face because she was turned away but that was rectified when she turned around to him, giving him a warm smile. She had left her red, slitted eyes but he noticed that she had the same whisker marks that he did, as well as the same elongated canines. The warm smile shifted when she turned back to face Itachi, her eyes smouldering in fury and uncontained hatred.

"I must admit this has never happened before," Itachi had managed to maintain his purely deadpan voice, only seemingly somewhat surprised at the turn of events.

**"You dare look at me Uchiha?!"** Kyuubi's voice was a roar that made even Naruto cringe back. The world around them seemed to twist and turn as a battle of wills took place between the genjutsu master and biju prisoner. **"I'll rip those accursed eyes out of your skull!"** She started taking menacing steps towards the now somewhat startled Itachi. It was true he hadn't been certain of the results putting a jinchuuriki under Tsukuyomi would have but he certainly hadn't been expecting this.

Somehow he didn't think the fact that he controlled this world would help him as the furious woman approached him at a quickening pace. Her elegant fingernails quickly became pure white claws and her whiskers more defined. He didn't particularly want to find out what would happen when she actually reached him so he tried to cancel the genjutsu, only for nothing to happen. Kyuubi closed the distance between them, grabbing his neck with her clawed hands and smirking, even though her eyes still burned with hatred.

**"You are no longer in control of this world."** She looked around as the environment finally righted itself, accepting the dominant will of the Kyuubi. She turned back around to the man currently held in her grasp and started to squeeze slowly. **"I wonder how long your Tsukuyomi lasts. I understand the longest has been over a hundred hours."** She smiled sadistically and squeezed harder **"I hope it's long because I have a lot planned... Uchiha."**

* * *

Kisame wasn't sure what happened, one moment Itachi had moved in to put the Kyuubi jinchuuriki under that powerful genjutsu of his, the next he crumpled to the floor, barely being able to use his arms to prop himself up.

"Itachi, what's going on? What happened?" He moved over to his partner, keeping one eye on the two children in case they decided to take off. He didn't get to move any closer as he felt an enormous pain in his stomach and was send hurtling along the short distance of the corridor. He looked down to see a large swirling scar on his stomach, his cloak was torn to shreds but it was not a fatal blow.

He looked up to see Jiraiya approaching, a very determined look on his face. Before he could pass Itachi, Kisame stood and raced down the hallway. Jiraiya braced for an attack but at the last moment Kisame crouched and pulled Itachi onto his shoulders before racing off in the opposite direction. He used Samehada to break through the wall and leapt out into the night sky, quickly disappearing before ANBU could get on their trail.

Jiraiya turned back to Gaara and Naruto with an irritated grunt, he finally had two Akatsuki members, one of which looked severely incapacitated, and had let them get away. He moved to where Naruto stood, looking a little shell-shocked by what he had been forced to witness inside the Tsukuyomi. What a lot of people didn't know about the genjutsu was that you couldn't close your eyes, or cover them in anyway.

"Are you alright Naruto?" The boy nodded, still looking a little distant but he seemed to snap out of it after a few seconds. He moved over to Gaara, seeing that the boy was also unharmed, although the same couldn't be said for his pride. Gaara had been completely defenceless against the Chakra-consuming blade and now had to find a solution to it for when he faced Kisame in the future. Opponents like that were never just a one-time deal, he would be seeing the shark-skinned man again; he was certain of it.

Jiraiya led them back inside Anko's apartment; he would wait for their sensei and third teammate to get back from what they were doing, after that he would have a lot of explaining to do. He looked at Naruto sadly, it irritated him to have to bring such a young boy into such things but right now he saw no other way.


	24. Chapter 24

The bleak dirt path seemed to stretch on forever, endlessly winding in between the trees like a drunken snake. The five of them trudged along, all of them far too weary and the weather too dreary for them to attempt conversation. Jiraiya took the lead, walking purposefully like he actually knew where they were going, which of course wasn't true. The three chuunin walked side-by-side a few paces behind him, increasingly distressed by the endless path. Anko brought up the rear, equally irritated and annoyed as Naruto, Gaara, and Tayuya but the difference was she was more vocal.

"Come on Jiraiya, when the hell are we going to get there?!" The white-haired man in question's eyes twitched as the tick that had been steadily growing since their departure gained a friend.

"Quiet down Anko, you're worse than the gaki here." Everybody else in the group would have taken offence at that had they not been far too tired to care either way. Anko was about to retort in her usual manner but they were saved from Jiraiya exploding as they rounded the corner of the paths and the trees finally broke. They rounded the crest of a hill and stared down at the sprawling mini-metropolis below them.

"This is Tanzaku town?" Anko looked down at it in wonder, there were so many people going about in the full throes of some festival or another. As far as she knew there was always something to celebrate in this town, it was what made it such a tourist hotspot, Jiraiya turned around to face the group, particularly Naruto.

"Now you're sure Tsunade will be here?" Naruto just scoffed, looking insulted.

"Of course she will be, they're celebrating the Kishihoto festival here. That's the biggest gambling event of the season in this part of the country. I bet she couldn't avoid this place if she wanted to." Jiraiya sighed, he knew Naruto had a point but he hated being reminded of it. He was the one who was supposed to have the inscrutable spy network, not the little blonde gaki here.

"Fine, fine. Let's just go get some rooms booked and we can start searching tomorrow," everybody in the group nodded enthusiastically; they were tired of walking and wanted to get off their feet.

* * *

"_Hey Jiraiya wait up!" Naruto ran after the large sannin who paused to allow him to catch up._

"_What is it Naruto?" The blonde boy ran over, still not winded despite having run clear across the village in search of the legendary pervert._

"_So if all that stuff about the Akatsuki is true..." Jiraiya looked offended, like his intelligence could ever be wrong "...then what are we going to do about it?" Jiraiya stared at the young boy, wondering just how much he could tell him. It was true he hadn't been there for his godchild throughout most of his life but he at least appeared to be relatively perceptive and somewhat levelheaded._

"_We're not going to do anything." He had stressed the word "we're" and Naruto stared at him confused until he clarified. "I'm going to find Tsunade and try to convince her to take the position of Hokage." Naruto nodded slowly, seeing the logic in finding a strong leader for the village in a time of crisis. If what Jiraiya said about the Akatsuki was true then this was definitely a time of crisis. What worried Naruto the most was that if they were collecting the Biju then it wasn't only Naruto who was in danger, but Gaara as well._

"_Alright then, I can help you with that." Jiraiya looked at him strangely, eyebrow quirked and an amused smile on his face._

"_And how exactly do you think you can help me?" it was Naruto's turn to smirk as he confidently looked out at the horizon in the distance._

"_Because I know where Tsunade will be."_

* * *

Naruto relaxed into the chair, taking in the plethora of food laid out in front of them by the very kind and polite staff of the hotel. He happily dug into the assortments of sashimi while his friends and sensei did the same. Jiraiya didn't eat surprisingly, instead he was off talking to somebody Naruto would have guessed was a contact in his spy network. No doubt the man was currently scouring the small city in an attempt to find his old teammate.

In fact he was only doing such because Anko had forcefully stopped him from running off to the various brothels in the town, three times. Having her along was the best thing to happen because she detested perverts of all kinds. It was a thought Naruto now found particularly hilarious considering who the author of the books she now happily read was. Jiraiya finally entered the room, sitting down with a very frustrated look, which Naruto took to mean the search had been unsuccessful so far. He seemed to shake it off and turn happily to Naruto, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Well Naruto, I came to a decision that since you are out here with me, I might as well train you a little." Jiraiya didn't get the reaction he had been expecting with that statement. Anko shot him a death glare like he was insinuating that she was incapable of teaching Naruto while Tayuya was doing likewise, wondering why the hell Naruto was getting special treatment. Jiraiya gulped loudly from the combined attack from the two angered females.

"Now, now Anko, I didn't mean to imply you aren't a good teacher, it would simply be a technique that you don't know." Anko still seemed annoyed but was now at least curious as to what Jiraiya would teach Naruto. "And Tayuya, don't worry about it, you could attempt it as well." Again the younger girl still seemed irritated but at least somewhat sated. Jiraiya was more curious as to why he had no reaction from the two boys yet.

"So what would you teach me?" It was said plainly; only the faintest hints of intrigue that made Jiraiya want to cry. He was a Sannin, actually offering training to somebody and they were only slightly curious. Gaara on the other hand didn't even look like he was paying attention anymore, more focused on the food in front of him than the pervert at the head of the table. Jiraiya tried to ignore him and turned back to Naruto, turning on his salesman voice to further interest the kid.

"How about the move I used on Kisame when I rescued you two?" He added a small eyebrow wiggle to complete the enticement but Naruto smirked at him calmly and stood up from the table and clutched his right wrist with his left hand. Quickly, and much to Jiraiya's astonishment, blue energy began to form in the palm of Naruto's hand, rapidly coalescing into a large sphere. Jiraiya just stood watching the spinning orb of chakra, transfixed by its size before Naruto dispelled it harmlessly.

"You mean that one?"

* * *

_The three of them hopped through the trees, it had taken them a long slog through the desert but they were finally in River Country and on schedule. None of them wanted anything to go wrong with their first unsupervised B-rank mission so they had to cut out the usual antics that Baki would have kept to a minimum. Even so, Naruto wasn't really paying attention to the branches ahead of them, more focused on the kunai in his hand._

_Tayuya_ _looked across at him in annoyance, Naruto hadn't dropped that kunai since they had left the village. Normally that wouldn't have annoyed her, it paid to be safe, but he wasn't even using it for its proper purpose. When he had told her he was going to invent his own chakra control exercise she had actually laughed in his face, it just sounded that ridiculous. Even so, here he was, running along whilst perfectly balancing the kunai point down on the palm of his hand._

_From what Tayuya understood in the mumbled and nearly incoherent description Naruto had given, the objective was to focus chakra in streams from the tenketsu in your hand. Then using those streams of chakra like tethers you would hold up the kunai. It sounded simple enough but the concentration and sheer volume of chakra required made it completely useless for anybody except chakra powerhouses like Naruto._

_She stopped focusing on him and instead thought about the mission at hand; a simple retrieval mission. Normally that wouldn't warrant a B-rank, except what they were retrieving was money and the person they were retrieving it from was Tsunade of the Sannin. She had run out on a gambling debt, a very large one if the client's anger was anything to go on, and apparently that warranted the hiring of ninja to track her down and retrieve it._

_Honestly the girl thought it was a major waste of her time and skills but at least she would be able to meet Tsunade. The woman was like an icon to many kunoichi across the Elemental Nations, supposedly one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. Tayuya would hardly describe herself as a fan girl or a sycophant of any kind but she didn't turn down opportunities when they presented themselves. Meeting Tsunade definitely counted as an opportunity in her book, a great one too._

"_Naruto, would you quit playing with that stupid kunai!" Naruto just waved at her off-handily making Tayuya scowl._

"_Wait, wait, I think I almost have it." Tayuya was about to come over and beat him a little for waving her off but watching in amazement as Naruto put too much chakra into his exercise and the kunai flew out of his hand, embedding itself into a tree not far away. That wasn't what interested her, what was more fascinating was the slight swirl of chakra that was left in Naruto's hand. He didn't even seem to realise it was there until he looked down and yelped in surprise. He flapped his arm and the chakra dissipated instantly._

"_Wait Shithead, do that again!" Naruto looked at her strangely but pulled out another kunai, performing the exact same procedure ending up with another kunai drilled into a tree. All three of them watched, amazed as swirling chakra once again was left in Naruto's hand before slowly disappearing as the energies were released. "That was fucking awesome! How did you do that?" Naruto just shrugged, looking at his hand in amazement._

_The rest of the trip to the town Tsunade was last spotted in went fairly quickly. Naruto continued with his newfound skill, finding that he didn't need a kunai to make the chakra appear. Now he would just hold out his hand and after a moment of concentration swirling chakra appeared. They were all astounded by the new technique Naruto had seemingly created; they had no idea what it could be used for but that was what experimentation was for._

_They reached the town with Naruto still playing with the swirling blue chakra and quickly scouted out the nearest taverns and gambling halls; which was where they were told they would find the youthful-looking sannin. This was also one of the reasons Tayuya wanted to find Tsunade, her healing skills were legendary and she had supposedly found a way to make herself appear youthful well into her fifties, what woman didn't want that?_

_They kept asking around town and eventually struck lucky as somebody recognised seeing the woman they were after at a pub not far from them. They ran to the location, entering nonchalantly to not arouse suspicion. They received a few odd looks from the patrons because of their age but when they saw the headbands they lost interest. There was an unspoken rule regarding shinobi, best expressed as 'old enough to kill old enough to drink'. Many barmen went along with this because it merely added to their potential clientele, and that meant more money for them._

_They found a booth quickly and scouted out the small tavern, it didn't take long to find the aging sannin. She tended to change her appearance often to fool people like them trying to find her after running out on a debt but there were clues; two very large clues. Naruto's mouth hung open a little as he stared at the woman, only snapping out of it when he remembered she was about five times his age; of course Tayuya slapping him on the back of his head had nothing to do with it._

_They discussed how to approach the situation, the woman was legendary for a few reasons and her strength was one of them. She also seemed to be accompanied by a young girl, probably about eighteen, which might pose a problem if she decided to run interference, giving Tsunade time to escape. In the end they decided to wait, the woman seemed to be drinking herself into a stupor and they would allow it, then they would approach directly, letting Gaara do the talking, as he was the most sensible of the three._

_Finally they agreed that Tsunade was drunk enough and they walked over, immediately the girl next to her became defensive seeing Gaara's headband but Naruto put up his hands showing they meant no harm. The girl was still tense but she allowed them to sit down, eying them warily. Gaara sat down in the middle of the booth so he could talk while Naruto and Tayuya sat on either side, Naruto in the corner so he could continue to play with his new ability._

"_Please don't feel alarmed by our presence, we are merely here to collect the money you owe. After that we will go and leave you in peace, as there is no need for conflict," the very drunk and sleepy Tsunade on the other side of the booth let out a loud and amused snort._

"_Hah, little bratsh think they actually stand a chansh again me?" Naruto had to hold back a snicker; from the way the woman talked she was obviously absolutely hammered. It did put them on guard however; many shinobi feigned being more drunk than they actually were to catch their enemies off guard. "What maksh you think I can't jusht walk out of here and there isn't a damn think you could do to shtop me." Naruto tuned out the conversation at this point; he would just let Gaara deal with it as the planned._

_He continued to play with the chakra in his hands, marvelling for a moment as he got it to spin wildly for a few seconds, wondering if he could do something with that. Tsunade caught the action; even in her hazy state she saw what looked a lot like her teammate's attack in one of the kid's hands._

"_Hah! Well would you look at that? The brat thinksh he can do the Rashengan!" Naruto looked up, seeing that she was taking about him and suddenly gained interest in the conversation. His teammates and the girl to Tsunade's side also looked over at him in interest. Tsunade sneered a little, looking slightly to Naruto's left as she swayed for a moment. "Like a little brat like you could ever hope to learn the Fourth Hokage'sh technique!" Now Naruto was very interested._

"_What are you talking about?" Tsunade swayed a bit more, her eyes not quite focusing in the same place before turning back to Naruto. He might have been imagining it but her actions seemed even more pronounced and exaggerated, like she was in fact faking. Unbeknownst to him Tsunade had actually been using her medical training to quickly burn off the excess alcohol in her system since the moment they sat down. Unfortunately for her the procedure took time and her mind was still a little fuzzy._

"_The Rasengan was a technique created by the Fourth Hokage, to this day only he and Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade's old teammate, have ever mastered it." Naruto looked in the direction of the young woman who answered him as she stuck out her hand in a handshake. "I'm Shizune, Lady Tsunade's personal assistant." Naruto took the hand and shook it._

"I'm _Naruto_ _Uzumaki." Everybody missed Tsunade raise an eyebrow at hearing the name but she covered it well._

"_I'm sorry Naruto but while Lady Tsunade is like this I'm obligated to tell you that we currently do not have the funds to repay the money we lost." She looked worriedly at Tsunade who looked about ready to take a nap, embarrassingly using her own ample bosom as a makeshift pillow. "May I ask what you were instructed to do should we not comply?" Naruto nodded and Gaara took over._

"_We have explicit orders that should you be unable to repay the debt, or in the event you refuse, we are to escort you back to our client." Shizune once again looked sadly at her boss and mother figure before shaking her head._

"_I'm sorry but Lady Tsunade won't-" She was interrupted as Tsunade's head suddenly came up, looking at the three genin intently, especially Naruto._

"_Shuuusshhh_ _Shhizune" She narrowed her eyes with a smirk "I have a proposishion for the bratsh" Shizune looked extremely worried as she played with her hands._

"_Lady Tsunade I don't think that's a good idea, we can't-" The older woman just looked at her young apprentice, very clearly telling her to be quiet, which she did so._

"_You, the blonde one, Naruko." Naruto scowled at the drunken woman but let her continue. "How long have you got before you have to bring me back?" Gaara answered for him._

"_We were given a month before we have to return to Sunagakure, we left two days ago." Tsunade nodded in an exaggerated matter, mulling over the numbers with difficulty as her drunken mind tried to grasp maths._

"_Okay then, I'll give this little gaki three weeksh to learn the Rashengan." She looked right at Naruto in a very smug manner. "If you can do that then I'll pay back the money. Shound fair? In fact if you do it I'll even throw in my necklashe." Gaara narrowed his eyes at the proposition, there was obviously some catch but there was no way they could actually take on one of the sannin so they had no other choice._

"_How do we know you won't run away while Naruto is training?" Tsunade smiled drunkenly with her eyes closed, looking damn near to passing out._

"_One of you bratsh can watch me if you like." She looked thoughtful for a moment before surprising everybody at the table by grabbing her breasts in both hands "But no funny businesh." And with another satisfied smile she happily lay down on the boobs she had just grabbed and dozed off. Everybody just stared at her a moment with large drops of sweat hanging off her heads before Shizune smiled and began to hoist Tsunade up using her shoulder._

"_Well you might as well come and stay at our hotel room." The three genin nodded, following the older woman carrying the even older woman out of the bar. Naruto stopped outside, slapping his head in annoyance as he remembered something._

"_Wait, I still don't know what the hell a Rasengan is!"_

* * *

_Naruto_ _lay on the ground, exhausted and spent; he brought his hand up to his face, turning it in the moonlight to see the extent of the damage his 'training' had done. He had chakra burns practically covering his hand; Kyuubi was doing her best to keep up with the damage with her own chakra but that was the problem in the first place. While Shizune had explained the concept of the rasengan, and Tsunade improved that description when she finally sobered up, knowing what something is and actually doing it were two different things._

_All they knew was it had something to do with spinning the chakra, condensing it then holding it; much easier said than done. Naruto pulled in a deep, painful breath and raised his hand, already channelling the chakra and spinning it. He looked at the rotating disk of chakra in his hand, shaking his head as his did so. He knew it was supposed to be a ball but he didn't know how to manipulate the chakra into such a shape._

_He tried to visualise a sphere, going back to basics as it were, thinking of how it was made up. He guessed it was just a load of different rings at different angles and thought how he could use that. He took another deep breath and tried to will another disk into existence, this time spinning vertically. He just managed to do it but at this point his hand was burning from the combined efforts of the day. He looked at what he made in satisfaction, at least it now looked something like a sphere and he could work from there._

* * *

_Naruto_ _had his eyes screwed shut in concentration focusing on the movement of chakra in his palm. A week had gone by since Tsunade issued the challenge and he was proud to say he was making progress. After his initial breakthrough he had quickly found that the more rotations he added to the sphere, the more difficult it became to control; the extra burns on his hands were testament to that. The ball of energy was constantly yearning to expand, to grow and eventually dissipate._

_It had gotten to the point where Naruto had simply allowed it; the ball doubled in size but became nearly half as difficult to manage. He smiled; he now had a perfect sphere of rotating energy contained within his hands. He frowned, remembering that the Fourth Hokage had spent nearly three years perfecting this technique so it couldn't possibly be this easy. The moment of truth came when he firmly planted the sphere of energy into a nearby tree, only for it to pathetically strip a few layers of bark before petering out._

_He stared at his hand in dismay wondering what it was he did wrong. He had the ball of chakra and it was spinning in multiple directions all at the same speed. He thought that maybe he just needed more power behind it and set about infusing his rasengan with more chakra to see what would happen._

* * *

_The trees around him were wrecked, many emblazoned with a swirling burn pattern like some kind of brand. He grunted in frustration before summoning yet another ball, pouring in as much chakra as he thought was safe without letting it expand anymore. He was sweating from the exertion it put him under, not just today but from going at this non-stop for nearly five days. He only had little over a week until the deadline and he had to make those days count; he couldn't let down his friends or the client, more importantly he couldn't let down Tsunade._

_He had seen it in her eyes; she had lost something, something very precious that was slowly eating away at her. She hid the pain with gambling and drinking but there was no hiding the fact that she had simply given up hope. She didn't expect him to do this; she didn't expect him to succeed so he needed to prove her wrong. He needed to show her that things were possible and you couldn't just give up on the world._

_He growled in frustration and gripped his wrist, now pouring in chakra from both arms making the ball pulse excitedly. He didn't care anymore, he wasn't going to limit it; he simply poured in as much chakra as he could, controlling it as best he could from the outside. Finally with a satisfactory cry he held out a very condensed, spinning ball of chakra, double the size of his palm. With a roar he slammed it into a tree, only for his concentration to slip at the last moment. The explosion could be heard throughout the entire town._

* * *

_The explosion had taken him out for a few days. There were only three left until the deadline but it was the best thing to have happened so far. Firstly he had seen that he could in fact do it, it was possible and that was all the motivation he needed. Secondly, he had time to think about what else needed to be done and had finally come up with an answer. He wasn't completely sure it would work but that was what he was out here to find out._

_He formed the rasengan as quickly as possible, clutching his wrist to steady and increase the chakra supply. Next he condensed it, moulding it down while pumping in more chakra before it glowed and pulsed happily. Finally, before he lost control again he attempted to form a thin membrane of chakra around the sphere to contain its energies. He laughed triumphantly as he felt his control over the sphere increase dramatically._

_He couldn't help it, he just laughed; people passing would have thought him insane for laughing maniacally while holding a bright ball of energy. All his hard work and perseverance finally paid off as he held up the sphere, proudly looking at it. He had to hold his wrist to do it but at least he managed it; he could work on improving it later, right now he had a bet to win. With that he drove the ball into a tree; cleanly shearing the trunk straight through before he cheerfully sprinted back to town._

* * *

_Tsunade_ _stared at the sinning ball with a look caught between disbelief, annoyance, confusion and a small amount of pride. Naruto for his part just looked extremely pleased, not smug, but pleased nevertheless. Shizune was equally shocked, while neither of them had actually expected the boy to accomplish the feat she was now more worried about the consequences. They would have to pull out another loan to pay off the Suna debt, after all Tsunade may have run out on debts before but she always kept her sides of deals._

_On that same line of thought the old woman smiled softly as Naruto dissipated the ball of energy, reaching around her neck to unclasp the necklace that hung there. Naruto watched her strangely, only now remembering that part of the deal. He wondered what the significance of the necklace was, it looked old, and valuable however when Tsunade handed it over he felt calmed by its presence. He also thought it looked pretty cool as he threw it on, letting the cold crystal fall on his chest._

"_That was my Grandfather's, the Shodaime Hokage," Naruto looked up at Tsunade who was smiling sadly at the aquamarine crystal. Immediately Naruto felt regretful for separating this woman from something that obviously held great sentimental and monetary value. However when he made a move to remove it and give it back Tsunade stopped him, making sure his hand was firmly clasped around the amulet._

"_No Naruto, you earned this." Her smile lost its sad edge and she leaned closer, catching Naruto by surprise and she moved his headband to one side and gently kissed his forehead. "I didn't think you would be able to do it..." Her smile had grown at Naruto's flushed face as she leaned back "...Thank you for proving me wrong." They talked a little bit longer but ultimately their mission had been fulfilled and Tsunade went about making the necessary preparations to pay the money she had lost._

_She sighed inwardly, happy for Naruto's success but at the same time greatly irritated by it. No doubt she was going to have to change her appearance yet again to escape bankruptcy, to think she had just gotten used to her thirty year old form. She sighed, thinking that maybe her teens might be fun again; she idly rubbed the spot her necklace had once rested. A frown appeared as she thought back to its previous two owners but dispelled those thoughts when she looked across at Naruto, happily chatting with his friends and Shizune._

* * *

"You learned the Rasengan in three weeks?" Naruto nodded happily, frowning afterwards at the implication in Jiraiya's tone of voice.

"So?" Jiraiya mumbled something under his breath about annoying blondes; he looked down at his palm and remembered the four months that it took him. Then again he didn't have to grab his wrist to make a perfect rasengan; however it didn't escape his notice that Naruto's was larger, closer to the size of Minato's. Sadly he pulled out the small assortment of balloons from his pocket, throwing them uselessly into the trash.

He spent that entire time coming up with a way to learn the technique easily and Naruto had gone and done it anyway. Even through his disappointment though, Jiraiya couldn't help but smile; the boy really was Minato's son. He laughed softly to himself; next the boy was going to tell him he had mastered the Hiraishin, building the special kunai from scratch. He laughed again at the absurdity before suddenly looking at the blonde with an intent-filled gaze.

Naruto sweated under the observation before Jiraiya finally let up, shaking his head and mumbling 'Nah... It couldn't be' under his breath. The older man seemed to notice that everybody was staring at him like he was insane and he coughed loudly.

"Um alright then, if there's nothing else then I guess we all better hit the hay." A devious smirk lit up his face. "I only got two rooms so I guess me and Anko will bunk up." He said it with a lewd grin that immediately told them he was lost to his little pervert fantasy world.

"Yeah, as if, you pervert. I'd rather bunk with the gakis than you!" Jiraiya's face fell before he walked off, mumbling ever more incoherent things. Everybody retired to the rooms that Jiraiya had bought and dumped their equipment down on the floor. That left everybody in the awkward position of staring at the two beds before Gaara wordlessly walked over and sat on one, crossing his arms and daring anybody to disagree with him with his eyes.

The other three stared at the last bed before they all ran at it, shoving and pushing as they dived onto the mattress, still somewhat wrestling for control of the bed. Needless to say Naruto had a very awkward night as he laid in bed, Tayuya to one side and Anko to the other. He didn't know what Anko was dreaming about but he imagined it had something to do with teddy bears considering the way she was clutching him to her. He didn't dare move or wake her though, there was a kunai right beneath her pillow and he didn't quite fancy testing out her reflexes. Naruto didn't get much sleep that night.


	25. Chapter 25

Naruto couldn't remember ever feeling this comfortable before as he woke up. The pillow just felt amazing, just firm enough to support his head yet at the same time soft enough to feel like he was lying against a cloud. He snuggled into it some more, not paying attention to the murmurs coming from above him that came with the motion. He sighed deeply, noticing a scent that hadn't been there before, sweet like a dumpling or dango.

Naruto's eyes shot open wide and stared at the ceiling of the hotel room, not daring to move more than an inch at a time as he slowly moved his head. He turned so slowly he would have held up a snail to see what he was resting on, Anko's breasts. He froze in an instant, not knowing what to do; moving meant Anko might wake up, not moving meant Anko might wake up; he was trapped between a rock and a hard place, figuratively.

He decided to just go for it, staying here was too risky and there was always that kunai to think about. Before he could do anything though he felt Anko's breath hitch slightly beneath him and once again he froze.

"Morning gaki." Naruto tried not to cringe at the sweet but deadly tone Anko spoke in, instead feigning sleep so he could plead ignorance later. "Oh don't try that with me gaki, I know you're awake." Naruto kept at it, really hoping she was bluffing at this point; he could feel her breath so close to his ear now. "Did you enjoy your sleep?" She was whispering and he could practically feel her lips they were so close to his ear.

He went all in at this point, not able to bear the pressure anymore; he turned on Anko's chest, readjusting for more comfort. He hoped that it would seem so brash that Anko would have to believe he was still asleep. He had to stifle the sigh of relief as he heard the woman mumble some curses under her breath about him ruining her fun. She shifted out from beneath him, dropping his head unceremoniously to the mattress and for a moment he missed the warmth and comfort of her chest. He reconsidered though; it just wasn't worth the loss of a certain anatomical part of his body.

He stayed still for another five minutes before getting up himself; Anko was in the small kitchenette eating breakfast and he joined her, smiling happily like nothing was wrong. They sat in silence while they ate, both feeling awkward but neither of them showing it, one out of embarrassment and the other out of fear. Thankfully Tayuya woke up not too long after, or more correctly she was forced to by the annoying rays of light filtering in through the blinds.

"The fucks up with you two? You guys look like you've seen a freaking ghost." She laughed to herself before walking off to the bathroom for a shower; a decision Naruto now regretted putting off. Anko looked at him closely, not noticing how nervous he had looked because of her own embarrassment. She saw it now though and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You _were _awake!" Naruto's eyes shot up and he fell backwards off his chair, crawling away as Anko walked closer to him, twirling a kunai.

"No, what!? I didn't, there was no, I couldn't have, SORRY!" And with that Naruto bolted to his feet and did the first thing he could thing off, jumping straight out of the window. Anko looked at the broken glass for a moment before smiling devilishly.

"Sorry Naruto but you touched the twins, now you have to pay the price." And without further thought Anko raced after Naruto, diving out of the now twice-broken window to give chase.

* * *

An hour later, after Jiraiya prevented Anko from seriously harming the young blonde, the group was out scouring the local gambling halls in search of the elusive Tsunade. They hit the largest and most obvious ones first; it didn't make sense for Tsunade to go there due to her history but they had to cross them off the list. As they continued to search without luck they began to feel more and more dejected. Jiraiya began to think they had wasted their time, knowing he shouldn't have listened to the blonde.

Finally though they struck luck; it was more by chance that Naruto saw the flash of blonde hair in the crowd and quickly decided to follow it. He pressed through the crowd into a smaller hall where he noticed their surprisingly large buy in. If Tsunade's moniker held true then it would be the perfect place to find her and with that Naruto went about searching for the legendary sucker. He passed through the different rooms where mostly men sat around playing poker or Cho-han.

The abundance of men made it all the easier to spot Tsunade's recognisable blonde hair out of the throngs of people. He noticed that he was on his own, the others having split up long ago to find the woman he was staring across the room at. He smirked at the opportunity and sat down at the table Tsunade was just about to join, absently noticing that he couldn't spot Shizune anywhere. It struck him as odd, if their last encounter was anything to go on then the girl was inseparable from the older blonde.

Then again, looking across at her now that statement didn't seem to hold much weight. While it was definitely Tsunade, he could tell that much, she was much younger than he remembered. If he didn't know she was in fact fifty something years old he might have said nineteen or twenty. The jutsu she used amazed him, wondering if there was some way he could get her to teach him; he was sure it wouldn't just work for her. Looking as youthful as he wanted sounded perfect to him, it would certainly scare his enemies to come across a man they thought was elderly but looked in the prime of youth.

He smiled at the thoughts before sitting down at the table and getting dealt in; Tsunade hadn't noticed him so far and he used that to his advantage. The game went slowly with the chips going back and forth between players as slowly one after the other struck out. Naruto was marvelling at the lucky streak the old woman seemed to be having, wondering if her nickname was just a ploy to get others to underestimate her. Slowly though the cards turned in his favour and the chips around his person grew into small stacks.

He smirked as he sensed his two remaining opponents grow frustrated at his constant winnings. After the next hand that two became one and soon it was just himself and Tsunade; she still hadn't recognised him. It came down to one last hand; the cards on the table were Queen of hearts, Jack of spades, Jack of Clubs, ten of diamonds and Queen of spades. Tsunade grinned maniacally and pushed all her chips into the pot, looking very confident as she went all in.

Much more sedately Naruto shrugged an also pushed his chips in, it unnerved his opponent to see him so calm despite the large amount of money he was risking. Honestly Naruto couldn't have cared less about the money; he made a pretty decent living from his missions. Even so, he enjoyed the moment as Tsunade put down her cards, revealing her hand.

"Four of a kind, Jacks." Naruto just sighed before idly flipping over his own cards with a flick, much to Tsunade's dismay.

"Four of a kind, Queens" Tsunade slumped down onto the table in defeat as the man raked her chips over to Naruto's side of the table. He chuckled at the display before taking enough chips to cover his buy in and pushing the rest over to Tsunade's still slumped over form. The woman looked up, surprised as she felt the small mountain of chips brush her arm, and stared at the young blonde, squinting at him curiously.

"Naruto?" He smiled at her finally recognising him and walking over, but not before she raked all of the chips into a small bag. "Naruto, is that you?" He nodded with a smirk before Tsunade wiped it off his face by slapping him on the back of his head. "You little brat I would have won if it wasn't for you." He glared angrily back at her, rubbing the sore spot he now had on the back of his head.

"Hey, at least you got the money," Tsunade stopped her frown and patted the small pouch, smiling at the reassuring clink of chops inside. It was like she didn't really believe they were there and this was all a dream.

"Now I can buy into an even bigger game and double this," she said it dreamily off into the distance, not really talking to anybody as Naruto felt the sweat on his forehead grow.

"Umm shouldn't you pay back your debts first?" Tsunade rounded on him, looking like she was going to slap him again.

"What are you Shizune now?" Speaking of her apprentice turned assistant the woman came rushing onto the gambling hall, pushing past the patrons while carrying a pig that Naruto didn't remember seeing the last time.

"Lady Tsunade! There you are, me and Tonton were looking everywhere for you!" Naruto looked quizzically at the small, apparently female pig in the young woman's arms. Tonton stared straight back with a surprising amount of understanding in her eyes considering she was a pig.

"Not now Shizune, can't you see I'm talking to an old friend?" The woman seemed to notice the small blonde at that point, her eyes widening and her lips curling into a smile.

"Naruto, it's good to see you." She chuckled to herself recollecting their last encounter. "Learn any knew legendary techniques?" Naruto smiled and raised a hand to the back of his head, rubbing the spot.

"Well actually, now that you mention it-"

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya took that moment to walk into the gambling hall, immediately spotting his old teammate. He looked over her appearance with a critical eye born from years of perversion, taking in her single ponytail and two large bangs framing her youthful face. She also wore what she was fond of at the time, her nostalgia overcoming her; it was a short red skirt with a white shirt atop a fishnet vest. Jiraiya seemed to come to a decision and raised a thumb in her direction, a gleaming smile along with it.

"I like the new, or should I say 'old' look." Tsunade quickly repeated the same manoeuvre she had on Naruto, but with considerably more force. It was enough to send Jiraiya halfway through the wall of the building, earning a satisfied smile from the youthful-looking woman. When he finally picked himself out of the wall with some help from Naruto and Shizune he wobbled back over. "Good to see you as always Tsunade."

"What do you want Jiraiya?" he straightened up instantly, like he was never injured in the first place.

"Always straight to the point, come on, I'll buy you a drink while I explain it."

* * *

Once everybody was settled into the booth in a small out of the way tavern Jiraiya cleared his throat.

"Okay Tsunade, I'm going to be blunt with you. The council asked me to find you and offer you the position of Hokage." The woman and her apprentice looked slack jawed at the man, Tsunade instantly downing her saucer of sake. Naruto looked on in amusement, wondering how the woman would take such a proposition. For that matter Naruto wondered how he would take such news as he downed his own saucer.

It had become clear a while ago that the blonde couldn't get drunk, no matter how hard he tried. It was similar to his resistance to most poisons in that the Kyuubi would immediately remove the toxins from his system. He pondered the question himself, wondering what being Kazekage would be like. There was the respect and power to think about; while on the other side there would be the responsibility and enemies he might gain. There would also be a great deal of difficult decisions he might be forced to make. In the end Naruto decided that he couldn't come to a decision either way, thinking it was unlikely he would have to think about such things for a long time.

"You can't be serious Jiraiya." Naruto broke out of his inner monologue, noticing that the sake jug was considerably emptier now.

"Completely, Tsunade," the old woman stared at her former teammate for a few seconds, scrutinising his face.

"Why me?" Jiraiya looked confused for a moment, obviously not having thought the question would come up.

"What are you talking about Tsunade? You are the granddaughter of the First Hokage, grandniece of the Second and student of the Third. There isn't anybody better suited." Again Tsunade scrutinized the man.

"You of all people should know that connections and names mean nothing compared to true merits Jiraiya. You yourself are more powerful than me, why weren't you considered?" Naruto stared at the elderly sage for a moment, wondering how he could possibly be more powerful than Tsunade; he had seen her strength first hand.

"I was." That simple statement shocked everybody at the table. "But I turned them down." Jiraiya seemed to have gone quite serious by this point, more so than many of the people there had ever seen him. "You were always the more level-headed of us Tsunade, always making the difficult decisions and keeping me and Orochimaru from fighting." The woman flinched at the name of their other teammate and Naruto immediately sensed there was something she was hiding.

"Please Jiraiya, the Hokage's position is a fool's job. Everybody that takes it just dies." Normally Naruto would have been able to keep out of this conversation, keeping his emotions and opinions to himself. However Tsunade had just indirectly insulted the old man, the first man to befriend him and earn Naruto's respect, even if he didn't show it as much as he should have.

"We all die at some point Tsunade." The table became eerily quiet as everybody turned to look at the young blonde. "Every shinobi has to accept that at some point." His tone was flat and even, not a hint of emotion or sarcasm present. "At least the Hokage' died for something they believed in, sacrificing themselves for something bigger than themselves. I think the old man called it the Will of Fire once." The two Sannin felt the wave of melancholy wash over them as they remembered their sensei's favourite phrase.

"You don't know what you're talking about brat. You've never seen true pain, or the sting of the loss of a loved one." Tsunade's eyes were once again misted with melancholy as the faces of her deceased brother and former lover flashed through her mind.

"Maybe not, but at least I accept that I will face pain in my life. Whether I overcome it or not is yet to be said but I will never stop fighting to protect the ones I care about and do everything in my power to make sure the same can't be said for them." The faintest hints of a smile tweaked at the edges of Tsunade's lips as an image of Nawaki seemed to superimpose itself on Naruto's features.

"Bravely said brat, but you still have no idea what you're talking about." Naruto shrugged absently, he had said what he meant to say; how the woman took it was not his concern. All this time both Tayuya and Gaara had been staring at Naruto, wondering at the conviction behind his words. Tayuya especially seemed moved and she swore Naruto had been looking straight at her when he had said 'the ones I care about'.

"You know Tsunade, you may be right." Everybody turned to Jiraiya in shock, his companions wondering what the hell he was doing. "Maybe you aren't right for the Hokage position." He seemed to look in thought before looking off into the distance. "Maybe I was too hasty in turning down the job myself." A lustful and recognisable grin spread across his features after he said it and most of the people at the table groaned inwardly.

"Yes, I can see it now; hot springs around every corner; mixed baths all throughout the village. As Hokage I would have command over all the lovely kunoichi" His eyes glazed over for a moment and Naruto thought he saw hints of drool at the corners of his mouth. He stood up, adopting his classic 'hero' pose and looked off into the foreground. "Yes, I, Jiraiya the legendary toad sage of Mount Myoboku will take the position of Hokage and lead the women of Konoha into a new golden ag-"

He was promptly cut off from his rant by a slender fist impacting painfully with his abdomen, quickly sending the elderly man skidding across the bar. He only stopped when his face met the concrete wall sending spider-web cracks out from the impact zone. Tsunade snarled in annoyance, blowing on her fist as she sat back down with her arms crossed under her chest.

"Like I would ever let a pervert like you become Hokage." The three younger shinobi looked at the woman sceptically while Anko was just grinning crazily, wondering if she could get that strong.

"So are you going to accept the position?" It was Gaara who spoke, his monotone voice cutting through the silence that had settled. Tsunade just slumped a little in her seat, sighing deeply realising what her little display of anger might have cost her.

"I don't know," she seemed to slump even more as she said it, the full impact of the words hitting her. For a fleeting moment she had actually considered it and deep within her that didn't bode well.

"We'll give you some time to decide." Jiraiya had suddenly popped out of nowhere, startling everybody and nearly earning him another fist to the gut compliments of his former teammate.

"Dammit Jiraiya, you know I hate when you do that," he just nodded absently while waving his hand in a dismissive manner. He motioned for everybody to leave the woman and her apprentice with some time to think things over. However before he left he turned to Tsunade, deciding to impart the words he thought would have the most impact of the conversation.

"You do know Tsunade, that if you turn down their offer, it will naturally be Danzo they turn to next." Without any more needing to be said Jiraiya hastily walked out of the bar, following his odd band of companions as they went back to their hotel. Tsunade was left with a sinking feeling as she was now left with two very important decisions to make, and not much time to do it in.

* * *

"Jiraiya, are you sure it was a good idea to give Tsunade time to think about this?" It was strange seeing Gaara uncertain about something but he was only voicing what was on everybody's minds. The older man shrugged lightly, still looking as thoughtful as he had while walking out of the bar.

"I've know that woman for nearly forty years of my life and I still can't predict what she'll do worth a damn." Anko just chuckled at that but Jiraiya stayed oddly serious. "I don't trust her right now, there was something she was hiding from me." Naruto nodded from his position on the bed.

"Yeah, I thought that too, it was when you mentioned Orochimaru." Again Jiraiya went into deep thought, dismissing everybody from his room. He had a sinking feeling about this whole situation and he was going to have to talk to Tsunade sooner or later.

* * *

Anko, Naruto and Tayuya were walking through the packed streets of Tanzaku town, all of them slightly awed by what they saw. Gaara had elected to stay back at the hotel, lots of people just meant it as more likely someone would bump into him and generally those encounters did not go well. Currently Naruto was gawking at a large stand where the objective was to knock a small pyramid of bottles down with just three balls. It seemed simple enough; he had practised throwing kunai and shuriken for the majority of his life.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto, hand about to reach for a ball, looked up at the stall owner in confusion as he pointed to the sign hanging over the entrance. "No shinobi; you guys rip me off every time." Naruto sighed while looking around; noticing many of the other stalls had similar policies hung up to ward of headband-wearers.

"Am I allowed to have a go mister?" Naruto's eyes widened when he heard the strangely familiar voice but in a much sweeter tone. He looked around and saw Tayuya, minus her forehead protector rocking slightly on her back foot actually managing to pull off a shy look. He gawked for a moment before the stall owner broke him out of the shock.

"Of course little miss, just try to be careful with these balls okay, you don't want to hurt anybody." 'Tayuya' seemed taken aback by this, putting her hand over her mouth as she mock-gasped.

"No of course not mister." The old man just smiled at the sweet young girl while Naruto continued to stare in amazement at both the act and the fact it was Tayuya doing it. She picked up a ball and looked at it, perfectly adopting the pose of a civilian who had never handled deadly hand projectiles before. "Hey mister, what do I get if I knock down all the bottles?" The old man smiled again, knowing that it would be almost impossible to do so thanks to the weighted bottles in the middle.

"Well little miss, you can choose anything you like from the top shelf." Tayuya seemed ecstatic about this, gleefully hopping up and down before playfully sticking her tongue out of her mouth in fake-concentration. She aimed down her arm carefully before launching the small ball with all her shinobi training and skill, catching the centre of the pyramid and sending all six of the bottles hurtling towards the back of the stall. She didn't stop there though, the ball actually managed to ricochet off of the first pyramid, striking the one next to it and causing a similar collapse.

"Wow that was so cool, do I get two prizes now?" The question sounded so innocent even Naruto was a little convinced, wondering if Tayuya actually had a twin sister with incredible aim. The stall owner looked dumbfounded, staring at the scattered bottles on the ground and nodding dumbly.

"Uh, yeah sure I guess." Tayuya did another little gleeful hop before looking down at the counter.

"Oh hey, I still have two balls left." Everybody near the counter heard the owner let out an anguished groan.

* * *

Tayuya looked particularly pleased with herself as she walked down the street carrying two of her prizes for the day, Naruto of course being forced to carry the other two. She was a little disappointed that she hadn't managed to get another two-in-one shot but was still happy with the look on the stall-owner's face. Naruto for his part was just wondering whether he would be able to pull off a stunt like that, he thought probably not.

It got him thinking though, women were able to get a lot of stuff for free or at least lower their opponent's guards, either by acting cute or sexy. Perhaps he could develop a form of henge to that effect; the cogs in his head began to turn when suddenly a purple blur ran up to them. Naruto thought the young girl was oddly familiar, she was about their age with purple hair drawn into a pineapple-esque bun not dissimilar from Anko's and she wore a plain black T-shirt with a simple burnt orange skirt.

"Hi" She was looking straight at Naruto, completely ignoring Tayuya's presence.

"Um Hi." The girl smiled broadly at that, making Naruto a little nervous at how familiar this all seemed. The girl seemed to notice his discomfort and stuck out a hand.

"I'm Kiami." Naruto rubbed the back of his head but offered his other hand all the same.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The girl started to move like Tayuya did before with her arms behind her back and looking down at the ground while swivelling on one foot.

"I noticed you have a ton of prizes which must mean you're really strong." There was the smallest blush on the girls face when she said this and Tayuya started to see what was happening.

"Actually I'm the one who won the animals." The girl just nodded politely to the redhead before turning back around to Naruto with the same gushing smile.

"Wow, then it's so cool of you to help her carry them!" Naruto was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting. Suddenly he developed his own blush as the girl sidled over and wrapped her arm around his. "Wow and you _are_ really strong too!" By now Naruto was speechless, he had never received treatment like this before and his mind was struggling with what to do. By now Tayuya was fuming at what the girl was doing to Naruto.

"Get the fuck off of him you whore!" The girl just turned around in a small amount of frustration and glared daggers at the redhead, unlinking her arm from Naruto's all the same.

"Fine." She turned back to Naruto with a sultrier grin. "Why don't you come find me when your _girlfriend _isn't around?" With that the girl took off with a way in her step, quickly being lost to the impenetrable crowd, leaving behind a stupefied Naruto and a furious Tayuya.

"That was weird, why would that girl think you were my girlfriend?" Naruto's head quickly met with the ass of one of Tayuya's prizes as she launched it at him with her full strength. Of course it was only a stuffed toy so Naruto wasn't even fazed but he still looked at Tayuya curiously recognising all the signs that she was very angry.

"What, you think I wouldn't make a good girlfriend?!" With that Tayuya launched her other stuffed animal and stormed off. Naruto just stared after her, thoroughly confused at everything at the moment.

"What the hell just happened?"

* * *

'Kiami' slunk into a nearby alleyway, smirking all the way as smoke enveloped her form, out of it stepped a grinning and amused Anko. It didn't even faze her that the two chuunin hadn't seen through her henge; she was a master of infiltration for a reason. Her thoughts were more on what she had gathered with that quick 'reconnaissance' mission. She had her suspicions before but seeing Tayuya's burst of blatant jealousy at least confirmed it, the fact that Naruto was completely clueless to the girl's feeling was a definite worry.

Relationships in themselves weren't all that dangerous to shinobi, they might hurt you once in a while and be used against you but in the end it was the ninja who had to decide if it was worth it. No, it was unresolved relationships that were the danger out on missions where even a moment of hesitancy or uncertainty would get not only you, but also a teammate killed. As their current sensei it now fell to Anko to sort out the mess the two chuunin had made with their life.

It wasn't really her problem whether or not it worked out for them, what was important was that they understood what was going on, for better or worse. Anko sighed, she wasn't naturally the meddling type despite what people might think and she wasn't exactly the guru on relationships but she certainly knew one thing that would bring Tayuya's feelings to the surface. The young tokubetsu jounin slunk back into the shadows, an idea already forming in her mind.

* * *

A few days later Naruto was peacefully dozing on the couch having realised it was the much safer option. It wasn't all that comfortable but he had certainly weathered worse in his brief time. He was in that strange state between waking and sleeping where you decide whether or not it's actually worth getting up yet. Anko was already up, he could hear movement in the kitchen and at this hour it was highly unlikely to be Tayuya.

Finally the discomfort of the couch outweighed the possible comfort of sleep and he lazily swung himself up before sleepily dragging himself to the kitchen. He plopped down on a stool and went about making some quick food from one of the cartons and tubs in the cupboards. Gaara joined them not long after so all three were surprised and unprepared when the door suddenly burst open, despite the lock being closed, and a panting and exhausted Shizune broke through.

Everybody swivelled on their seats, ready for trouble; Sand was already trickling out of Gaara's gourd and Anko had a hand on a few kunai. They took in Shizune's form, noticing the few scratches on her clothes, or at least Naruto did.

"Shizune!" He rushed over, catching the woman who looked about ready to fall over. "What's wrong? What happened to you?" She took a few deep breaths before turning to everybody in the room.

"Orochimaru, you have to help Lady Tsunade." Naruto nodded with determination as Anko joined him at Shizune's side, a grim but equally determined look on her features.

"Where is she?" Shizune coughed a few times, worrying Naruto further.

"The castle, hurry." She didn't need to say it twice as Naruto was already out the door.


	26. Chapter 26

Naruto rounded the corner as a practical blonde and black blur with Anko, Gaara, and Tayuya actually struggling to keep up as he raced off. Naruto was just worried about Tsunade, if Orochimaru could kill Hiruzen despite his age, then Tsunade would be hard-pressed at best. Anko was just wondering how Naruto could be so fast while Tayuya and Gaara were keeping their opinions to themselves. However Tayuya was starting to feel some pain in her shoulder as her anger flared over Orochimaru.

It took them less than a minute to reach the castle, or at least where the castle used to be; now it was nothing more than smoking rubble. They weren't sure whether this was Tsunade or Orochimaru's doing but it didn't matter when Naruto quickly spotted the trail of destruction leading away from it. Without stopping for more than a few seconds he was off again, not even giving his companions time to catch up.

He arrived at the battlefield in another few seconds, earning him a few strange glances from both Orochimaru and the bespectacled man beside him. They weren't expecting anybody to arrive so quickly and suddenly, not that either of them were worried by it in the slightest. Naruto felt his anger growing just looking at the pale man currently across from Tsunade but he held back Kyuubi's chakra, it wouldn't do him good to lose himself right now.

He spared a fleeting glance at Tsunade who had a few splatters of blood over her clothes which thankfully didn't appear to be hers. However she seemed to be in some kind of shock and he couldn't help but wonder just what Orochimaru had done to her to make her this way. He snarled but kept his emotions in check as he turned back to the snake Sannin and his irritating assistant.

"Kabuto, I knew I smelt Orochimaru on you at the Chuunin Exams." The white-haired youth just smiled mockingly, pushing up his glasses onto his nose as if Naruto's very presence was less than a concern.

"It's good to see you too Naruto. I have yet to pay you back for what you did to me and my team." Naruto just rolled his neck, making sure it popped a few times as the rest of his companions hopped into view behind him.

"Sorry, but I don't have time for you right now." He turned and stared straight at Orochimaru who gave him an equally mocking smile.

"Interesting, the Kyuubi brat thinks he can take me on. Perhaps I ought to give an overconfident jinchuuriki a lesson in humility." Naruto growled but once again held back the overwhelming tide of Kyuubi's chakra, begging to be released into his system.

"I don't need Kyuubi to deal with you." His voice was really starting to sound like a roar now but his coils remained purely his own chakra. Kabuto merely sneered as green chakra coated his hand into a blade which he quickly pointed in their direction.

"To get to Lord Orochimaru you must first pass me Naruto." Before Naruto could even reply Kabuto sprinted across the field, covering the distance in moments. Naruto bent into a more defensible stance but at the last second Kabuto veered off and aimed a lethal strike at Tsunade with a gleeful grin on his face. "But first I think I should deal with Lady Tsunade here." The chakra scalpel came down in a long arc as time seemed to slow down.

The blade would have landed a lethal, most definitely fatal blow on the blonde sannin had it not been for Anko's timely intervention. She dived in front of the woman, taking the blow against her crossed arms, crying out in pain as muscle and bones were severed. Kabuto just gave an annoyed sneer at the woman who blocked his strike. The Snake Sannin looked upon his first apprentice with a sigh, thinking of all those years he wasted on her.

Kabuto flared the scalpel again, figuring he might as well finish off the pesky tokubetsu jounin but once again his attack was interrupted as Naruto dashed past, picking up Anko in the process and moving her to a safer location. Kabuto growled a little in annoyance as he jumped back to Orochimaru's side before Naruto could return and finish him. Orochimaru smiled a little, although it wasn't entirely pleasant.

"My dear Anko, how good it is to see you again." Anko couldn't reply as she bit back the pain from Kabuto's attack but she managed to spit some blood in the pale man's direction. Orochimaru gave a more visible sigh but returned his attention to the more bothersome people. "Aww is Jiraiya not here? We could have had one big happy reunion." Naruto cursed under his breath that they had forgotten the sage back in the hotel.

"Tayuya, you need to go back and get Jiraiya. We won't be able to do this without him." Tayuya shot him a look that clearly said she was against the idea.

"Come on Shithead, the fucker can't even use his arms." Nobody caught the glare Orochimaru sent the redhead "How fucking dangerous could he be." Naruto sent her a gaze that brokered no argument.

"Tayuya we don't have time to argue, just get Jiraiya!" Tayuya scowled and the mark on her shoulder pulsed painfully, shifting ever so slightly as her gaze flickered between Naruto and Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin took great notice of this, his mouth twisting into a sickening smile as he noted that information down for later.

"Fine, but you owe me Shithead!" Naruto just nodded quickly as Tayuya turned and sprinted back in the direction they come from. Now Naruto could focus his full attention on Orochimaru.

"Gaara, I need you to take care of Kabuto." The other redhead looked at him questioningly but nodded nevertheless, shifting his stance to better face the apprentice as sand leaked from his gourd.

"Aww that's cute, I get to play with the little fox." Naruto was really starting to get irritated by Orochimaru, and the longer that went on the more likely it was he would tap Kyuubi's power. He ignored it as best he could and shrugged off his jacket, holding it out in front of him briefly before dropping it to the ground. Everybody, even Orochimaru, stared a moment at the small crater the jacket created as it struck the earth, managing to send up plumes of dust from its weight.

Naruto only cracked his knuckles once as his disappeared from sight, appearing less than a second later behind Orochimaru. He was already in the process of delivering a swift kick which might have shattered the man's skull if he hadn't suddenly bent his body forward, underneath the attack. He followed up with a devastating axe kick which Orochimaru also dodged, bending his body at impossible angles to escape his fast attacks.

"Interesting, so the boy is fast." Naruto ignored him as he continued a relentless assault which only earned him glancing blows which did little to hinder Orochimaru's movement as the man continued to contort and twist away from every attack Naruto would deliver. Finally after he had enough Naruto flickered and reappeared a few metres away from the man, still not tired despite the speeds he had been moving.

"Impressive stamina as well, but not enough." Naruto cursed under his breath, he still wasn't fast enough despite all the training he had gone through just for that effect. He narrowed his eyes in irritation but soon smirked; an action Orochimaru didn't miss. "And what is so funny brat? That your friends are about to die? That the village you once lived in will be razed to the ground?" Naruto shook his head, still smiling which actually caused the smallest of frowns to appear on Orochimaru's normally flippant features.

"It's not that. I might not be fast enough..." He looked up as two very unique but very recognisable kunai dropped out of the seals in his wrists into his awaiting hands "...but the Fourth Hokage is." Orochimaru snarled in anger as his eyes opened wide at the sight of the legendary weapons.

"That's impossible! A brat like you learning the Hiraishin? Even I couldn't learn it." Naruto shrugged in such a flippant manner it set the Snake Sannin seething. He used that opportunity to launch out a fair number of the kunai, littering the field with them, all around Orochimaru. Inside Orochimaru still didn't believe that the boy could do it, that this was all a trick just to get under his skin. It was no small secret that Orochimaru greatly resented the Fourth because he stole the position of Hokage from him.

However his unspoken question was answered when Naruto just disappeared, not leaving so much as an after image. Immediately Orochimaru felt a heavy blow from behind but when he whirled around to block the follow up there was nobody there. The exact same thing happened but now Orochimaru wasn't taking chances, in a flash Kusanagi was out of his throat and held in his mouth, ready as when Naruto next appeared Orochimaru tried to take the boys head of with an upwards swing.

Naruto dodged the blow, sliding under the blade before coming up within Orochimaru's and slapping him fiercely in the chest before disappearing once again. Orochimaru growled out in annoyance at that god forsaken technique before he suddenly frowned. _'He slapped me?' _Naruto appeared again next to the kunai nearest Anko and Tsunade. The pineapple-haired kunoichi was staring at the blonde in disbelief while Tsunade was still trapped in whatever it was that petrified her.

Naruto went down on one knee, panting for breath; he was still unused to using that technique and it took a lot out of him. Orochimaru was still snarling where Naruto had left him, Kusanagi still in his mouth as he stared at Naruto with unbidden hatred. Right now there was just an image of Minato over the boy, an image Orochimaru would very gladly wipe off the planet. Naruto stood up after catching his breath, just as Tayuya and Jiraiya returned to the scene. Jiraiya didn't look all that great, swaying slightly as he ran and his eyes seemed to be swimming, however they quickly focused on the kunai scattered across the field.

"Naruto what-?" Naruto just panted, waiting for the last of his energy to return.

"Not now Jiraiya, I can explain later." The toad sage didn't seem satisfied with that, far too curious about the technique Naruto was using. He didn't give him a chance for any other questions as he made a one-handed seal and four more of him popped into existence. Orochimaru seemed to have calmed down by now and was back to his normal mocking smile.

"Really boy, you think that it would only take five of you to beat me?" It was Naruto's turn to smile as he grinned at Orochimaru.

"No..." The four clones all grabbed onto Naruto's arm as blue swirling chakra coalesced into a Rasengan "... Just one." The ball of energy swiftly grew to the size of a man making Naruto wince as he fought against the large vortex of energy. Orochimaru had to concede that it was an impressive technique but he would never allow Naruto anywhere near him to use it. By now he had subtly moved away from all the kunai littering the field.

Unfortunately for him he failed to remember the slap that Naruto had given him earlier, only realising what had happened when Naruto disappeared with a wink. Everybody on the field watched in amazement as Naruto blinking into existence above Orochimaru, driving the massive Rasengan into the man's unprotected head. The ground around the Snake Sannin's feet erupted as the massive energies were finally released and his body was lost to the intense flash of light that followed.

Naruto reappeared next to Tayuya and Jiraiya who were still staring at the dust cloud Naruto had created with the attack. He once again fell to one knee feeling completely drained; using two of his most powerful techniques simultaneously was difficult to say the least. He joined everybody in watching the dust slowly clear; even Gaara and Kabuto had stopped their battle to wait in anticipation.

Finally everything settled and they could all witness Orochimaru's limp body lying at the centre of a decent-sized crater. Both the remaining sannin and Kabuto just hung their jaw at their former teammate and leader's apparent defeat. Unfortunately for them they were too quick to judge as the body writhed for a moment before two burned and rotting hands emerged from the man's mouth. Using what little dexterity the limbs had left the arms pulled themselves out of the body like a snake shedding its skin.

Soon Orochimaru was standing before them, shaking off a thin layer of slime, not looking at all hurt, minus his still wrecked arms. Tayuya felt like she might puke from the vile rebirth technique while everybody else shared similar sentiments. By now Naruto was seething that his most powerful techniques were still not enough to kill this guy.

"Why won't you just die!?" Orochimaru let out a small laugh which abruptly ended when he began to see vile orange chakra leak out of Naruto's pores. It happened quicker than anybody was expecting; Naruto dropped down on all fours as the cloak overtook him, three tails rising up in sync. **"Just..." **Naruto vanished in a flash of speed, once again appearing over Orochimaru as he brought his freshly clawed hand down in a powerful swipe **"...DIE!"**

The crater Orochimaru had been standing in doubled in sized as the force of Naruto's blow crushed the man into the ground. A chakra-cloaked Naruto looked at the base of the crater in anger after seeing that the Snake Sannin wasn't there. He reappeared a few dozen feet away, melting out of the ground like it was water. Naruto's slitted eyes narrowed as the pale man chuckled in his direction.

"Poor poor Naruto, so weak as to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra." It was a bluff of course, had Orochimaru been anybody else he would surely have died from that Rasengan but it served its desired effect. Naruto gripped the ground even harder sending out enough killer intent that Orochimaru actually felt like he was staring the Biju in the face and even for him that wasn't a pleasant experience.

"**You want to see Kyuubi's chakra?" **Naruto's grip on the ground was beginning to splinter it as the chakra emanating from his body swirled around him in a small maelstrom. **"Then I'll give you Kyuubi's CHAKRA!" **Orochimaru watched in fascination as Naruto's skin began to peel off revealing the pure swirling chakra beneath. It writhed and glowed an ominous red as Naruto's flesh continued to shed itself away from the burning force.

"Gaara!" It was Tayuya calling out and the usually stoic sand user nodded in worry, already directing his sand away from Kabuto who was too transfixed on the scene unfolding to capitalize. The sand rushed at Naruto who was still in the process of changing between states, the forth tail still hadn't quite grown. The sand swirled under the jinchuuriki's feet, forming into a complex seal on the ground with Naruto at its centre.

When it was complete the complex seal shone in a brilliant white which caused many of the people present to shield their eyes. When it cleared a very badly burned, but thankfully chakra-free Naruto lay at its centre again. Orochimaru had watched all this in interest but he was now low on chakra thanks to the oral rebirth technique. He certainly didn't have enough to take on Jiraiya who seemed to have recovered from the worst of his poisoning by Tsunade's hands.

However he felt he did have enough for one last burst of speed to take care of a pest he was sure would be a thorn in his side in the future. He sprinted at Naruto's prone form, Kusanagi at the ready to deliver the final blow only for a different blonde blur to get in the way. Tsunade coughed out blood as the sword pierced her stomach, cringing from the pain when she moved. Orochimaru just sighed and took out the blade, earning another wince from the elderly blonde.

"Ahh Tsunade, finally overcoming your hemophobia only to die by my sword." Tsunade grimaced through the pain but managed to stand up to her full height, ignoring the blood that rushed from her wound. "But really Tsunade, for this brat you would give up your life?" Tsunade couldn't reply because of the pain but she managed a nod, earning a last sigh from her old teammate. "I should have expected as much from you I guess."

Orochimaru paused as the diamond on Tsunade's forehead suddenly enveloped her in a complex and beautiful seal. He was even more impressed when the wound through her stomach instantly sealed itself and he smirked in amusement. He knew he wouldn't last long in this fight, not with both Tsunade and Jiraiya; instead he jumped back as far as he could, already motioning with his head to his assistant.

"Kabuto, it's time we depart. I've had enough of seeing my old teammates and their pet fox." Kabuto nodded and appeared next to his master, shunshining them both away from the scene quickly. When they were gone Jiraiya, Gaara and Tayuya all rushed to Naruto's side, the redheaded girl falling onto her knees next to him. The blonde just smiled weakly up at them, wincing every so often from the pain of so many burns.

"Good thing that seal worked then Gaara." The flippant comment earned him a small slap on the head courtesy of Tayuya before he finally passed out from the pain.

* * *

Tsunade had made short work of repairing Anko's arms and healing Naruto's body; her reputation as the elemental Nations' best medical Shinobi standing true. Now they were all anxiously waiting in Jiraiya's room for Naruto to wake up, they had a lot of questions for the boy but given the time Jiraiya thought he would at least get some other matters out of the way.

"So Tsunade, will you take the position now?" The elderly blonde was still wearily staring down at Naruto, lying on the bed peacefully.

"I think so Jiraiya." The toad sage quirked an eyebrow at the odd response but he figured it was better than a straight no so he let it slide. The room settled back into an awkward silence as everybody was at a loss at what to do while they waited for Naruto to wake up. Luckily they weren't kept waiting for long and before long Naruto cracked an eye open.

"What happened to Orochimaru?" Everybody perked up at his voice and Tayuya rushed over, hugging him which managed to surprise everybody present. Anko on the other hand merely raised an eyebrow, smirking. Naruto winced from the pain in his recently repaired skin but returned the hug all the same. Tayuya for once didn't care about the encroaching blush as she allowed people to see her concern for Naruto. Of course she had a limit and soon pulled way, slapping him around the head playfully.

"Don't worry me like that Shithead, if you die then who the fuck am I going to torture?" Naruto just grinned he knew this was just her way of showing she was worried and he nodded his thanks. Gaara didn't come over but he nodded in Naruto's direction, giving a small smile which let the blonde know everything he needed to. Finally he caught the concerned glances of both Shizune and Tsunade before Jiraiya managed to ruin the moment.

"Alright brat, tell me how you learned the Hiraishin and more importantly..." He held up one of the kunai that Naruto had used which the five of them managed to collect from the battlefield "...where did you get these?" Naruto just grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as he glanced between the kunai and Jiraiya.

"It's kind of a long story." Jiraiya look made it clear they had time.

* * *

_It was a few months after their mission to retrieve the money from Tsunade and life had pretty much returned to normal for the two jinchuuriki and Tayuya. Naruto didn't exactly remember the exact prank he had pulled but he did know that he was now running through the streets of Suna at top pace. ANBU were behind him yet Naruto managed to outpace them thanks to his inherent speed which had had been training regularly over the years._

_He ducked and weaved through the crowded streets, using the people as cover to escape. When he thought he was finally out of sight of the ANBU he ducked into a nearby alleyway, continuing to sprint so as to put as much distance between himself and his pursuers. Finally he figured he was far enough away and rested against the wall, panting from the running but smiling all the same. He looked around himself to get a bearing for where he was, recognising the area immediately._

_He was in the poorer area of Suna's civilian district where mostly refugees and the poorest of residents eked out a living. If Naruto had to compare it to anything then it would be the area he himself had to live in back in Konoha. The walls around him were shabby and covered in graffiti but he wasn't exactly given much time to admire the surroundings as a kunai came out of nowhere, embedding itself in the wall next to him._

"_YOU!" He panicked at the attack; the ANBU had never been this aggressive before. Then again he had been standing deadly still, an ANBU wouldn't have missed like that. He turned to where the kunai had come from only to see a very elderly man, clutching another kunai and looking like he was about to throw it. He was squinting and it was obvious he was either completely or mostly blind thanks to his cloudy and sun-strained eyes._

"_Hey, watch where you're throwing those things old man, you could have hit me!" The man seemed to start at Naruto's voice, like it wasn't what he had been expecting. He kept the kunai poised to throw as he approached; squinting harder to see through his blindness before he ascertained it was just a boy. He immediately lowered the knife, looking very sheepish as he pocketed it and came closer to Naruto._

"_I'm terribly sorry about that young man, my eyes don't see all that well anymore and I mistook you for somebody else." Naruto was still angry at almost being hit with a kunai but now he was at least somewhat curious._

"_Who?" The elderly man sighed and motioned to a nearby house, it was a bit dilapidated but wasn't all that bad._

"_I'll tell you inside over some tea, it's the least I can do for almost killing you." Naruto nodded, there were a few better things he could do but Naruto dropped it. Once inside and after the man had poured some tea Naruto stared at him curiously._

"_You're not from Suna are you?" The man chuckled and shook his head._

"_No I'm not, but I can say the same for you. Even with these old eyes I know that blonde hair is most uncommon in these parts. If you must know I'm actually from Iwa." Naruto seemed surprised by that but the man seemed troubled by some memories so he decided not to pry._

"_So who did you mistake me for?" The man chuckled as if it was the silliest thing in the world and rubbed the back of his head in a manner that reminded Naruto of himself._

"_I actually mistook you for Minato Namikaze if you could believe that." Upon seeing Naruto's blank look he clarified. "That's the Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Naruto nodded in understanding, he had never heard the man's name before which upon reflection was rather strange._

"_But why would you attack me if I look like the Fourth Hokage? He was a hero to the Hidden Leaf Village." The man nodded but there was a scowl on his face, obviously picturing some bad memories._

"_A hero to THEM, but in Iwa he is thought of a little differently. During the Third Shinobi War Minato Namikaze was the man who single-handedly killed a third of Iwa's forces." Naruto's eyes grew to the sizes of dinner plates. "I know he was supposed to be dead but in Iwa he is still infamous." Naruto nodded but by now he was just marveling at the accomplishment._

"_How did he do something like that?" The elderly man sighed deeply._

"_A powerful technique that was unique to the man, the Hiraishin. It allowed him to instantly move himself to any location marked by a specific seal he could place. He used to put them onto special kunai that he would throw into the battlefield, allowing him to move around faster than was physically possible. It was how he earned himself the nickname the Yellow Flash." By now Naruto was in complete awe of the man, to do something like that was like a dream. The man suddenly looked up, remembering something._

"_Actually now that I think about it..." He trailed off and stood from the couch, moving into a back room where Naruto heard him move some things around making a clatter "...if I remember right it should be right around..." There was more general sounds of movement before "...here!" the man came back into the room and sat down on the couch, tightly clutching something in a small blanket. He unwrapped it on the table and revealed a very strange three-pronged kunai, covered in various seals that Naruto didn't have a clue how to decipher._

"_This was one of his kunai, there were so many littering the battlefield that some of us decided to take them home as souvenirs. At the time it seemed like a good idea, something to show our kids to say we survived the Yellow Flash; in retrospect it was completely idiotic. We took them into our homes despite knowing that the man could teleport to any one of them at will. Luckily it didn't come to that as not soon after the Tsuchikage surrendered and soon after that the Kyuubi attacked Konoha." The man didn't notice the imperceptible flinch Naruto let out at those words._

"_Tell you what? Why don't you take it?" Naruto stared at the man in a mix between appreciation and disbelief._

"_But why?" The old man sighed while looking at the simple weapon._

"_It brings back too many painful memories; I should have gotten rid of it a long time ago." Naruto was too young to understand completely but he got the idea and accepted the legendary kunai with a thankful nod. "Sorry again about almost trying to kill you." Naruto shared a chuckle with the old man but inside he was in turmoil. If he could learn a technique like that then he would be unstoppable._

* * *

"Well that's all well and good but even I couldn't figure out the Hiraishin, so how did you do it?" Naruto blinked at being interrupted from his narrative by Jiraiya who was currently pleading with him in his eyes. "Come on kid, Minato tried to explain it to me but I couldn't understand; how did he do it?" Naruto just shrugged.

"I don't know." Everybody in the room except Tayuya and Gaara face-faulted at those words and Jiraiya was the first to recover.

"What do you mean you don't know? I saw you use it." Naruto shrugged again and Jiraiya looked about ready to strangle the boy.

"What I mean is I have no idea how _he _did it." Jiraiya looked at him questioningly. "I gave up trying to figure out the technique ages ago." He smirked a little at Jiraiya's thoroughly confused expression.

"But out there, you, I saw, and then... what?" Naruto chuckled again as Jiraiya finally found a grip.

"I made my own version." That dropped the jaws of all four non-Suna residents; seeing that they weren't going to recover any time soon Naruto continued. "It actually came to me by accident; I remember one day I got really frustrated trying to work out the seals on the kunai. I gave up and sealed it away in a special scroll I always kept and for some reason that got me thinking. I started to wonder where things went when you sealed them into scrolls." Jiraiya actually seemed to give this a little thought, the question striking him as odd.

"I used Kyuubi as an example, she's in my stomach but she couldn't actually fit in there so she would have to be put on some kind of other dimension." Jiraiya nodded at the logic. "So that made me thing that if there was some kind of seal for sealing things in, then there had to be a seal on the other side to allow them into the other dimension. Then I just worked out what the seal was; which is a lot harder than it sounds." Jiraiya began to see where Naruto was going with this.

"After that I found I could just place a normal, but very powerful sealing mark on my body then put the inverse mark on anything I wanted to go to and I could instantly teleport. I mean it was a bit more complicated than that, I had to first disconnect the original seal from its usual exit seal and link it up to my new ones, plus I had to sort out jumping to multiple exits from only one entrance but that's the general idea." Naruto finished to a room in complete silence as everybody took in what Naruto had just told them, basically a simplified and actually usable version of the famed Hiraishin.

"Gaki, that was the most incredible thing I've ever heard. How long did all of that take you?" Naruto looked at Anko and furrowed his brow, trying to remember.

"I'm not sure, it all kind of passed in a blur." Tayuya chuckled from her spot across the room.

"If you count all the time he was locked away in his room with fuck-tons of scrolls and ink then it was about a year." Jiraiya raised his brow at that, that was a lot of time for such a young kid to be dedicated to learning one move; then again he couldn't exactly argue with the results.

"I have to agree with Anko, that technique is astounding." he sidled up to Naruto's side and wiggled his eyebrows "Maybe you could impart your knowledge to an old man eh?" Everybody in the room sweat dropped at the old sage practically begging somebody a fifth of his age for a technique. Naruto just grinned broadly, a smile that Tayuya and Gaara recognised well.

"Maybe, depends what you're willing to do for it." Jiraiya nodded excitedly while Tayuya and Gaara shook their heads; the old sage had no idea.


	27. Chapter 27

It was a fairly boring an uneventful trip back to Konoha, unless you believed Tayuya about some crazy adventure or another at a hot springs they stayed in. Everybody was relieved when the large and imposing gates finally came into view. Even Tsunade smiled a little, the nostalgia of coming back to this place after fourteen years getting to her a little. Shizune was young when Tsunade had taken her away so she didn't really remember it all that well but there were fleeting memories of her uncle that made her smile.

Anko was more distracted than the others, thinking over what she had seen as well as what she had observed on their trip back. Most prominent in her mind was the interaction between Tayuya and Naruto; it was fairly obvious to her that the girl had feelings for him, even if the slightly naive blonde couldn't see it. She was currently working on a plan to at least make her acknowledge those feelings and get over the obvious denial she was in.

She knew the girl probably had a hard childhood which was the obvious cause for her trust issues but most shinobi could say the same thing. Plus, she had Naruto and Gaara for the last seven years and those two seemed alright in Anko's eyes. Sometimes the purple-haired kunoichi couldn't help but think some people just had to, in the words of her friend, nut up or shut up. It may have been a harsh view but most of the time it was just what people needed and Anko intended the same for Tayuya.

Once they were through the gates, greeted by the ever chipper Izumo and Kotetsu, Tsunade and Jiraiya took off for the Hokage Tower to finalise the Hokage ceremony preparations. Once they were gone Tayuya turned to Naruto to see if he wanted to go train but she was beaten to the punch by Anko who had rounded on the blonde once the sannin were out of earshot. Naruto felt a little uncomfortable being held on both shoulders but he had somewhat come to expect this kind of behaviour from Anko.

"Naruto, I wanted to thank you for what you did." The blonde just looked at the woman confused, as did his two teammates.

"What do you mean Anko?" Anko chuckled lightly, it wasn't her usual laugh and Naruto had to admit it actually sounded quite nice, tinkling almost.

"I mean when you saved me from Kabuto. He would have killed me if you hadn't been there." Naruto felt a blush form across the bridge of his nose and adopted his classic bashful pose.

"Um, well you know it's just what shinobi do." Anko smirked again but shook her head lightly.

"Maybe so, but I wanted to thank you anyway" And with that, making sure Tayuya was in full view, she kissed Naruto on the cheek, surprising everybody present, as well as a few passersby who knew of the jonin's reputation. Naruto just spluttered, his slight blush turning into a full red mask that covered his face, earning a delighted laugh from Anko.

"That's cute." Naruto continued to be out of it so Anko just drew him in for a hug, chuckling as she did so. "How about a date to show my gratitude?" By now you could see the plumes of smoke coming from Tayuya's ears but the redhead remained quiet, annoying Anko. She had hoped that this would be all she needed but it would appear she would have to do a little more. Naruto for his part just seemed dumbfounded, a beautiful, if slightly crazy woman was asking him out on a date.

"Um what would we do? I mean I think it's supposed to be dinner bu-" Anko quietened him by placing a finger on his lips and smiled devilishly.

"Nah, dinner's so cliché, I have something much more fun in mind."

* * *

Naruto nearly tripped over his own feet and he sprinted through the dark forest, the dark wasn't the problem, it was just he had to keep his concentration elsewhere and not on his feet. As if to prove his point another hail of kunai shot out from the bushes around him, forcing him to jump and contort his body around to dodge them all. He didn't have much more time to think as he landed as he could already smell his pursuer approaching, their threat still fresh in his mind causing him to unconsciously place his hand over a special area.

He took a sharp left through some low brush, diving over the nest of snakes he accidently disturbed before pivoting and doubling back on himself. The trees all seemed the same and after thirty minutes of running through the forest he still had no idea where he was. He ducked as a few senbon shot over his head; he was definitely going to have nightmares regarding this later. He sighed deeply, already on the move again as he felt the cold steel of a kunai sail past his cheek, drawing and almost invisible line of blood where metal met skin.

He dived to the right to avoid it's friends and scrabbled back to his feet; unfortunately it wasn't in time as a shadow managed to get behind him. He felt a moment of blinding pain as something smacked him over the back of his head before darkness crept into his vision and he slumped painfully to the floor. His attacker just stood over his body victoriously, twirling a kunai innocently as they grabbed a foot and began dragging Naruto off to their lair.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a groan, instantly noticing that he was bound by something tough; it was most likely ninja wire. He looked down and confirmed his suspicions; a lot of ninja wire bound him tightly to a tree trunk letting him look out over the small clearing where his attacker stood confidently a few feet away from him. They walked over slowly, moving their body like the swaying of a naked flame as they approached his bound form.

"Morning Naruto, was it as good for you as it was for me?" Naruto just writhed against his bindings, putting on a good show for her as he struggled helplessly against the metal wires.

"Why the hell did you tie me up Anko?" She smirked at him, letting him see some of her teeth in the weak moonlight.

"Oh don't you know Naruto? All the best fun is had when somebody's tied up." Naruto stopped struggling against the wire, looking at his latest sensei critically.

"Well are you going to cut me free?" Anko brought the kunai up to her chin, tapping it against her lips as she seemed to think about the request for a moment.

"Ummm, no." Naruto just groaned awkwardly as he felt his legs start to fall asleep from the constriction.

"Why the hell would you ask me on a date only to stalk me through a forest then tie me up?" Anko laughed again, obviously enjoying all of this immensely.

"What else would we do on a date?" She asked it as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world and Naruto was left speechless as he tried to come up with an answer; however his inexperience got the better of him and he let his head droop.

"Bye then Naruto." Naruto's head shot up only to see Anko turning to leave, thoroughly scaring Naruto. He remembered the creatures that dwelled in Training Ground 44 from the Chuunin Exams and he didn't want one of those to find him in this situation.

"Wait where are you going?" Anko just put up a hand and wiggled her fingers in a goodbye gesture. Naruto narrowed his eyes and finally released the breath he had been holding, even subconsciously while he was asleep. Instantly the bindings loosed and Naruto was able to wriggle his way out of them. Before Anko could get too far he silently sprinted after her and tackled her to the ground. The woman actually seemed impressed at his escape abilities, smirking.

"That's pretty good gaki, didn't expect you to get out that fast." Naruto smiled in turn, thinking of his time back in Suna.

"This isn't the first time I've been tied up."

* * *

"_Come on Baki-sensei, why the hell am I tied to a tree?" Naruto's notoriously sadistic sensei just shrugged casually, irritating the bound shinobi-in-training._

"_Are you going to shout that same sentence at your enemies when they capture you?" Naruto was about to retort when he heard a creak from the robes he was tied up in and he immediately stopped moving. If he moved too much then the ropes would snap and he would fall the twenty something feet to the ground below him, not a fatal drop but it would hurt like hell. In Naruto's opinion being tied to a tree branch suspended over a large drop, in one word, sucked._

"_Come on Baki-sensei, when I'm a ninja nobody is ever going to capture me!" Naruto tried to put as much conviction as he could into the words but it was difficult when you weren't able to move all that much._

"_Please Naruto, every shinobi, male and female, get captured at some point. And the first ones to get captured, are the ones who presume they cannot be thus never learned how to properly escape. You'll thank me one day for this. Now I suggest you stop talking and get to work on those ropes. You're running out of time." Naruto just gulped as the ropes let off another ominous creak._

* * *

'_Huh, I guess I owe Baki-sensei that thank you then.' _Naruto looked down to see Anko slightly blushing and found that incredibly odd, he had never seen the expression on her face before. He realised why when he looked at the compromising position he had put the both in, namely him straddling her stomach. He immediately launched himself back off of her, blushing more than she was as he apologised. Anko just got up and dusted herself off, laughing at the chuunin's hurried apologies.

'_Idiot had me in that position and didn't even know what to do with it.' _The woman shook her head in amusement. _'Kind of cute in its own way but don't worry gaki, I won't steal your kiss from Tayuya.' _She sighed and laughed at the same time before walking over to Naruto and placing reassuring hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Come on Naruto, why don't we get that dinner then? Clichés be damned." Naruto just smiled at her and Anko returned it with one of her own, leading the blonde through the safest way out of the Forest of Death.

* * *

The next day the five of them gathered at the training ground, and immediately the two jounin had their students start their training. Anko took the time to catch up on what she missed in the village while filling Hana in on her plan with Naruto and Tayuya. She was genuinely surprised when she found her friend disagreed with her for once; that almost never happened. Anko wasn't the only one who had noticed the relationship between Naruto and Tayuya.

However Hana was more than happy to let the relationship progress on its natural course without Anko interfering. Anko defended that she wasn't interfering, just moving things along at a quicker pace with ultimately the same ending. Hana sighed through all of this and just hoped her friend was right about that, she wouldn't want to have to jump in as well and possibly mess things up even more than they were.

Unfortunately for Anko Hana's fear seemed to be dead on; all throughout her training Tayuya seemed sluggish and unmotivated, not really paying attention to what was going on. Hana sighed deeply as she saw this, trying her best to motivate the girl with promises of dango and even a new jutsu but nothing really worked. It worried Hana, she had never seen Tayuya so depressed and unwilling to train.

Naruto and Gaara didn't seem to notice the lacklustre attitude of their teammate. Gaara was absorbed in his own training as always and Naruto seemed as equally distracted as the redhead, although he didn't let it affect his training as much. Anko also wasn't planning on letting him see it, not until she corrected all of this; sadness wasn't what she was looking for, she really needed to ignite that spark of jealousy.

When the training session finally came to an end Anko decided to try one last thing. Before Tayuya could leave, which it was fairly she wanted to do despite her exhaustion, Anko pulled Naruto to the side again.

"Thank you for last night Naruto, it was fun." Naruto began to splutter and turn red like before but Anko stopped paying attention and focused on Tayuya who was once again seething from the open display of affection between the two. Anko smirked; she figured one last push should do it. With that she leant forward and kissed Naruto on the cheek again. Anko nearly lost hope when in an instance Tayuya deflated, all the anger leaving her as she just felt defeated, resigned almost.

Anko was really worried now; she might have overdone it and pushed the two away for good. She meant what she said about a resolved relationship being better but that still didn't mean she wanted to break apart friends that have been together for so long. Her mind raced as to what she could do to fix this and came up with a blank every time. She shot one last fleeting glance at Tayuya as the girl turned to leave with sadness in her walk.

Suddenly the redhead stopped mid-step, her eye-twitching as something inside her clicked. Call it her determination or stubborn attitude, maybe her acceptance over her feelings for Naruto but either way a spark inside her ignited. In an instance all the anger and annoyance came flooding back to her as jealousy in all its glory finally overcame the hot-headed, flame-haired genjutsu wielder.

"Get away from him you whorish skank! You're four fucking years older than him, don't you have any fucking self respect or decency you common slut? What? Couldn't get a dick your own age to suck on? Why don't you run back to your street corner like a good whore?" Tayuya was panting by the time she was finished, leaving everybody in the clearing stunned. Even Gaara had his mouth open and eyes widened at the display. Anko was seething as well, she had expected a reaction but nothing like this; while it was in the right direction she was still insulted.

"What, you jealous or something?" Tayuya squeaked at that, all her confidence retreating with those simple words. "Finally admitting to yourself that you actually like Naruto as more than a friend?" Tayuya opened her eyes wide and Anko thought, or at least figured she would deny the allegation. Instead she just opened and closed her mouth like a fish with no water to breath, panicking on the spot. Naruto turned to her curiously, of all of them he was the one most used to her language.

"Tayuya, what does she mean you like me as more than a friend?" Tayuya's eyes opened even wider and she suddenly felt cornered like a rabbit facing down a group of snakes. She looked about ready to hyperventilate before her brain finally gave her a command, namely, run away. She turned on her heel and sprinted out of the training ground, not particularly caring where she went. Naruto watched her for a few seconds, trying to work out what was going on as his body took over on instinct and ran after her.

"Tayuya wait!" If anything the girl seemed to run faster when he called out, confusing him again. He chased after her through the village, over rooftops and through alleyways; normally he would be faster than her but she didn't care where she went while he was more careful of civilians. They traced a winding path through Konoha as Tayuya took corners at random in an attempt to get away from Naruto. The rational part of her mind told her that was impossible, he was much faster and an incredible tracker; unfortunately her rational side wasn't in control right now.

Tayuya didn't know if she was always going there subconsciously or it was just random chance but eventually she found herself sprinting up the rough-hewn steps on the side of the Hokage Monument. After a brief climb she ran out over the heads only for a kunai to go sailing past her head. She was surprised that Naruto was now attacking her but it became more clear when she saw what type of kunai it was. Naruto appeared out of thin air in front of her while she was still sprinting forward.

The result was her crashing straight into him, knocking them both to the stone ground atop Hiruzen's head. Tayuya tried to get back up and scrabble away to keep escaping but now Naruto had a hold on her and he wasn't letting go. She tugged at his hand but it was like a vice and she wouldn't be escaping it any time soon. Eventually she stopped her struggling and just bowed her head, letting her unruly hair hang over her eyes.

Naruto looked curiously and desperately at his oldest friend, still having no idea what was going on. He gently took her chin in his hand and lifted her face to see her, more than surprised when he saw a single tear roll down her cheek. Naruto had only ever seen Tayuya cry when they talked about the worst of her past, never out of the blue like this. He was now really worried and damned the consequences.

He pulled Tayuya into a deep hug, not really caring what was wrong anymore, just wanting to make the girl in front of him feel better and stop crying. Tayuya was startled by the sudden embrace and just froze as Naruto kept his arms wrapped around her. When he finally heard the sobs stop he pulled back and looked the redhead in the face again.

"Tayuya why were you crying?" His features were set into a concerned look that made Tayuya want to cry again; it hurt her that just by being sad she got this reaction from Naruto. Seven years with the unpredictable blonde and she still wasn't used to just how selfless he was.

"It doesn't matter Naruto." If the boy was surprised at the use of his name he didn't choose to show it, instead gaining a more determined look.

"Tayuya, when you cry it always matters to me." Tayuya narrowed her eyes, not out of anger but because of how ridiculous that sounded. She lightly punched Naruto in the chest which he barely felt and wormed her way out from his arms. He let her because she then just sat down next to him, looking at the ground in a cross-legged position. Naruto didn't say anything for a while, more because he didn't quite know what to say. Instead he decided to reiterate an earlier question that was still on my mind.

"Tayuya..." She flinched from his voice and Naruto furrowed his brow in worry "...what did Anko-sensei mean you like me as more than a friend?" Tayuya sighed deeply, still just staring into the ground.

"You're such an idiot sometimes Naruto." Naruto furrowed his brow again, he failed to see the point of the insult but right now he was trying to cheer Tayuya up for whatever reason so he just dealt with it. "I like you Shithead." Naruto nodded in a mix between happiness and confusion,

"Yeah, I like you too Tayuya." The girl chuckled, the smallest of smiles gracing her lips. She looked around and stared straight into Naruto's big blue eyes while he in turn gazed into her deep green ones.

"I _like _you Naruto." again he just looked frustrated and confused, shaking his head because he didn't understand what the redhead meant.

"I_ like _you too Tayuya?" She chuckled again, remembering some of the reasons she enjoyed being around Naruto so much. She mumbled something under her breath that to Naruto suspiciously sounded like 'clueless'.

"You make everything so difficult you moron." She actually sounded a little frustrated and was wondering why this was so hard. It was just words, words were easy, she said words all the time so why were these ones so hard to say? Well she knew why, because it had to be Naruto she was saying them to. That infuriating, unpredictable, irritating, loud-mouthed, kind, generous, selfless and unbelievable Naruto.

She decided that words were in fact too hard for her so she decided to get rid of them, instead she simply grabbed Naruto's shirt, closed her eyes, and went for it. In retrospect closing her eyes wasn't the best idea as all she accomplished was her forehead slamming into Naruto's. It was actually lucky they were wearing their headbands or it might have seriously hurt. She opened her eyes to see Naruto rubbing his headband and looking at her strangely, immediately sending her back into her previous position of glumly staring that the floor.

'_Perfect, now I fucked everything up. He's just going to think I'm weird now.' _She groaned to herself, cursing her lack of experience in these matters; she knew she should have listened to Temari more but the older blonde always made those situations more awkward. _'Fuck it, like I care what he thinks, well actually I do but shut up me, just go for it again but keep your eyes open fucktard.' _Before Naruto could question her strange action she grabbed his shirt again and pulled him across.

It was Naruto who closed his eyes this time, expecting another head butt. In that aspect he was more than surprised when Tayuya's lips met their mark and her suddenly felt a familiar and soft sensation against his own. His eyes shot open in surprise but they drooped pleasantly when he just decided to go with it, enjoying the contact and actually deepening it by placing his hand on the back of Tayuya's head.

The redhead wasn't prepared for it but it felt strangely good to have the gesture returned and she smiled one of her rare smiles as Naruto returned her kiss. They finally broke when they remembered they needed air to breathe and were left slightly panting as they stared at each other, both blushing crazily.

"Tayuya, not that I'm complaining but what was that?" Tayuya's blush increased tenfold and she averted her gaze from Naruto's, unable to look at him as another smile danced across her features; two in one day was rare for her, never mind in a few minutes. She just playfully slapped him on the chest while he continued to look happy and confused a lot like a puppy.

"That was me saying I _like _you shithead." Naruto stared at her wide-eyed, finally understanding the situation as those elusive cogs in his brain finally meshed.

"I like Gaara too, does this mean I have to kiss him?" Tayuya nearly snorted from the laugher when she heard the joke, smiling appreciatively at Naruto; he always knew how to break the tension in any moment.

"No, because if you kiss anybody else from now on I'll kill you. Especially another boy." It was said sweetly, but like Anko there was the obvious and very real threat behind the words that made Naruto gulp.

"Does this mean you're my girlfriend now?" Tayuya found her confidence falter as the blush increased in intensity but she managed a meek nod and a shrug which made Naruto smile broadly. "So can I call you Tayuya-chan?" Tayuya shot him a look that very clearly, even through her blush, said no.

"Yeah sure, and I'll call you Shithead-kun." Naruto chuckled but fell silent as the two took to their own thoughts, finally getting the chance to think about everything that had just happened over that short space of time. Both realised it was getting late but neither particularly wanted to be the first to speak, it's what happens when two stubborn people are in a relationship. It got to the point where they both just fell asleep right where they were sitting, Tayuya naturally curling into Naruto's warm body.

* * *

Naruto nearly made a dent in the stone beneath him from the sheer force of him jumping back. He had woken up with a smile, only to get the scare of his life when he opened his eyes to see Gaara standing over him with his arms crossed.

"You didn't return to the apartment last night." Naruto shifted himself up into a semi-sitting position so as not to disturb Tayuya too much. He rubbed his head with the hand that currently wasn't trapped by Tayuya in a death grip.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. Guess we kind of lost track of time and fell asleep." Gaara just sighed and looked across at Tayuya's peacefully sleeping form.

"So what happened last night?" Naruto chuckled again and also took a glance at Tayuya, smiling as she saw her mumble something in her sleep which made her actually look cute.

"Um, if you can believe it Tayuya's now my girlfriend." Gaara immediately quirked an eyebrow but kept the rest of his emotions in check.

"It's about time." Naruto frowned at his friend questioningly.

"What do you mean?" Gaara chuckled, a rare occurrence in itself but he actually seemed relatively amused by the news and Naruto wasn't sure whether to not to be annoyed or glad.

"I mean it's been fairly obvious that Tayuya has liked you for quite a while now. If I had other friends I'm sure we would have made a bet on when you would realise." Naruto shared in his laugh, enjoying this rare moment with a long-time friend.

"You shitheads better not be talking about me." They both paused as they turned to Tayuya who was just now propping herself up on her forearm, covering her eyes with the other hand. "What time is it?" Gaara smiled, leave it to Tayuya to be concerned about when she wakes up after a night like that.

"Around seven in the morning." Tayuya's eyes widened and she snarled at Gaara in sheer annoyance.

"Oh fuck off Gaara and bother somebody else, it's too early." This was the first morning she didn't have to go and do some stupid training way too early in the morning and she was going to use it. She flipped back over onto her side, pulling Naruto over to her as she did so. "Settle in Shithead because I don't feel like getting up for a while." Gaara just smiled at the scene and shunshined away while Tayuya propped her head up on Naruto's chest so it wasn't touching the ground.

"Hey, you actually make a half decent pillow shithead, now lie still and act like one." Naruto sighed but complied with his girlfriend's request. He still found it weird to say that, even in his mind. He lay down on the hard stone, the surface not really bothering him because he had slept on worse. Tayuya adjusted her head on his chest until she was comfortable and soon he felt her steady breathing and knew she was asleep.

* * *

"Well this was certainly unexpected." Kyuubi stared at him from cross the field with utter incredulity.

"**Speak for yourself Kit, it was painfully obvious for everybody **_**except **_**you two." **Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, chuckling lightly.

"Was I really that bad?" Kyuubi just looked at him, cocking her head to the side and sighing, Naruto growled lightly, knowing what the gesture meant.

"**Well at least you got there in the end Kit." **If foxes could smile lecherously then Kyuubi was managing it. **"Now comes the fun part." **Naruto stared at the large fox blankly and once again the vulpine bijuu submitted to a sigh. **"That's right I forget that for you humans, fourteen is still a child." **Naruto grumbled under his breath at that and pointed to his headband.

"This means I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a shinobi" Kyuubi smirked and padded over, her body moving lithely like the trained hunter she was.

"**Ah yes, the headband with the 'nine' on it. Really, I still don't know where you got that idea from, it certainly wasn't me. Honestly I don't know whether to be flattered or amused in all honesty." **Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, sitting down on the ground in a huff. Kyuubi merely laughed to herself and wrapped him up in one of her tails. **"It is exactly behaviour like that that helps me remind myself you are in fact just a child."**

Naruto straightened up, not fighting Kyuubi's tail as he knew it was pointless; they were each like a vice of solid steel when she wanted them to be. It wasn't an exaggeration that she could reshape mountains with them. He instead just allowed himself to be pulled to his feet before Kyuubi released him, sitting back down across from him and chuckling.

"**When you and your female finally do get to the fun aspects of your relationship, let me know so I can be a part of it." **Naruto looked at the ancient chakra creature in shock.

"Kyuubi!" The old fox just laughed again.

"**What, just because I'm imprisoned inside of you means I don't get any fun?" **Naruto refused to answer her, instead breaking the connection and returning to the real world where Tayuya still peacefully dozed away on her chest. He had to admit she looked amazing curled up against him with her vibrant hair splayed out across his chest like a scarlet waterfall. He inhaled her scent for a moment, taking in the smell of cinnamon and apples, after all this time it still hadn't changed.

She moved on his chest, obviously in a dream as she readjusted on his chest for comfort before falling still again. He sighed, wondering just how he missed how beautiful she was before; it was now so painstakingly obvious that he couldn't _not_ see it. He guessed Tayuya was right; he really was a moron sometimes. He chuckled though; at least he was a moron with an amazing girlfriend.


	28. Chapter 28

Despite the cold and rather uncomfortable ground Tayuya had to admit that it was a good sleep. She felt lighter today, as if a gravity seal had been released from her body after too many years of being active. Honestly even she couldn't tell when it was she had started to like Naruto in that way, it was more of a gradual thing. Even so, she was always far too stubborn a person to ever admit such things. She couldn't be sure if Naruto finally finding out was a good thing but something inside her told her it would be interesting to find out.

She looked up from her position resting on his chest and stared up at his dozing face, gently reaching out a hand and lightly brushing it against one of his whisker marks. Ever since she had met him they had fascinated her, making her wonder what they felt like. She found it odd when they didn't actually feel any different from the rest of his skin; they were slightly smoother like the area around her curse mark but they weren't raised or grooves like she would have thought.

A smile graced Naruto's face when she brushed one of them and he chuckled; she could feel the vibrations through the contact with him and it made her smile as well. Quickly she stopped stroking him, realising how it might look if he woke up to her doing it. That in itself made her pause; how would it look? She was now his girlfriend; did girlfriends do things like that? She didn't honestly know she was as new to all this as Naruto was himself. It seems her stroking had actually gotten to the boy and he stirred before blinking his eyes open.

"Uh, hey Tayuya." She smirked back at him.

"Hey Shithead." Naruto groaned but still smiled.

"So you're still going to call me that?" She sat up with her arms crossed under her chest while pouting in a very Tayuya fashion, mainly in a mocking gesture.

"Until the day I drop." Naruto chuckled as well but she didn't miss the frown that troubled his features when she said that. He sat up as well, looking out over the village and only just noticing the sun beginning to fall in the sky.

"Damn, how late did we sleep in?" Tayuya just shrugged, not really caring as she figured the later the better. Anko would probably be pissed and would no doubt punish them with training, not to mention tease the hell out of them when she found out, but a small part of Tayuya knew it was worth it.

"Dunno, come on, we should probably go find Gaara before he gets frustrated and takes it out on some unsuspecting building." Naruto nodded but suddenly smirked as he looked across at Tayuya. "What are you looking at?" His smirk grew.

"You just said an entire sentence without swearing." Tayuya thought back and realised he was right.

"What? Fuck off I didn't. Go shove your fucking head up your shitty ass!" Naruto just chuckled while Tayuya blushed, both getting to their feet but before they could take off Naruto put a hand on Tayuya's shoulder.

"Um Tayuya." She looked around, noticing how deeply in thought Naruto looked, "what do we do now?" She frowned at him.

"What do you mean? I said we're going to find Gaara." He smiled weakly buy shook his head and motioned with his hand between them.

"No, I mean with us. What do _we_ do now?" Tayuya suddenly blushed as she remembered some of the things Temari had talked to her about, Jiraiya's perverted books supplementing that.

"Um I don't know." Naruto nodded his head in agreement; they really hadn't thought that far ahead. "I guess we just keep doing what we normally do, if it feels right I don't see why we should change it." Naruto nodded again, his smile gaining more confidence as he agreed with Tayuya's sentiments. However if he could, there was one thing he would like to change and to illustrate that he suddenly leant forward and captured Tayuya's lips with his own.

The redhead's eyes opened wide as she felt the urge to fight against the action but her own words flashed through her mind. She realised that this felt, in a word, right. She closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss a bit more but Naruto chose that moment to break from it, leaving Tayuya frowning. She opened her eyes to see Naruto smiling playfully at her, making her scowl.

"Why'd you stop Shithead?" He shrugged and leant forward again but she stopped his face with her hand, this time leaving him confused. She would be damned if he was the dominant one in this relationship. She gave him a mischievous wink before disappearing in a shunshin, leaving behind a dazed and confused Naruto.

"Huh, women can be troublesome." He could have sworn he heard a cacophony of men sneezing coming from a particular house not far away but shrugged it off as his imagination. He hopped down off the monument, taking his normal shortcut but with an enormous grin plastered across his face.

* * *

Tayuya laughed to herself for leaving Naruto high and dry but he deserved it for breaking the kiss too early. He really was going to have to learn about these things and Tayuya decided it would be better if she weren't the one constantly correcting him. To her it was a sort of test and while she had her doubts about Naruto she knew he would probably meet her expectations. After all, she had gotten him into those books for more than the pleasure of reading; if he didn't come away from them without any hints then he was a hopeless case.

Despite her earlier sentiments of finding Gaara she found she actually rather felt like being alone right now. She chose a random direction and started walking, not particularly caring where she ended up. It didn't even cross her mind when the streets began to get emptier and emptier until there was nobody but her walking through the barren walkways. She did notice all the strange fan symbols that littered the walls though; they made her wonder if she had somehow stumbled into some kind of clan compound.

That didn't make much sense to her as if that were true then there should be more people walking about. It was at that moment she realised that she was the only person in about a hundred-meter radius. She couldn't see another living soul and the streets were quiet and had obviously been vacant for some time. The place gave her the creeps and she turned around to leave and possibly find Naruto when she heard some commotion from the largest building in the area. Her curiosity piqued she made her way over to where she could hear voices and see lights.

She hopped over a wall to see the strangest sight; the Uchiha kid from the Chuunin Exams was facing down four people, all dressed in the same ridiculous clothing. It was some kind of cream robe with a white yin-yang symbol and for a belt they wore a thick purple rope wrapped in a pretzel knot at their back. She would have snorted from the idiocy it would take to wear such a uniform but she didn't want to give her position away.

There was a fat one with a bright orange mohawk, clearly the up-close and personal type. Next was a strange thin person who Tayuya couldn't tell was male or female due to the green lipstick and pale blue hair. They were distinguished by a strange lump on the back of their neck that looked like a second head. The strangest of them was a dark-skinned man with six arms, something Tayuya found incredible. Lastly and possibly most shocking was one of the members of that girl Hinata's team, the one Naruto fought in the preliminaries.

Tayuya crept closer to hear what they were talking about with Sasuke, not noticing as her foot lightly brushed a near-invisible wire. Before she could even shout out in surprise she found herself enveloped in some kind of fast-hardening gunk. Horrifically she realised it was shot out from the six-armed guy's mouth which made her want to vomit. Sasuke and the uniformed ones all turned to look at what he had caught. The androgynous on with the lump jumped up next to her and stared down at her with a sneer.

"Looks like Kidomarou caught a little fly on the wall." Now identified as a man by his voice he chuckled to himself before noticing the curse-mark, only half hidden by Tayuya's shirt. "Oh and what's this? Aren't we lucky?" He picked her up with surprising strength and carried her back down to his teammates.

"What is it Sakon?" It was the fat one who asked and Tayuya shot him a scowl, finding she instantly disliked him.

"Fuck off fatso!" The ginger-haired behemoth gained a tick over his eye and started to march forward, his hands already curled into fists.

"Back off Jirobo, this is the one Lord Orochimaru told us to watch out for." Jirobo scowled at Tayuya before backing off; at least that told Tayuya that Sakon was the leader of the group. By now the Uchiha just looked impatient, tapping his foot irritably making Tayuya wonder what he was doing with subordinates of Orochimaru.

"Will you idiots just stop bickering so we can go?" Tayuya tried not to show her surprise at Sasuke's defection, to Orochimaru of all people.

"Oh great, you're a fucking traitor. Should have known an emo fag like you would want to be butt-buddies with Orochi-pedo." Sasuke scowled at her, striking her across the face with the back of his hand in anger at her outburst. Tayuya by now was furious but before she could retort Kidomarou sprayed some more of that gunk over her mouth, silencing her.

"That would have gotten annoying." There was a round of nods that made Tayuya's twitch an eye in irritation. Suddenly Hibiki, who hadn't spoken since Tayuya had gotten there looked up from where he had been concentrating.

"We should leave now, there are faint vibrations in the ground not far from here. ANBU are coming." The Sound Four and Sasuke nodded before taking off with Tayuya over Sakon's shoulder and Hibiki leading the way. Tayuya tried to shout out insults and curses at her kidnappers but with her mouth restrained all she managed were grunts and muffled noises. Eventually they stopped in a clearing; Sakon was obviously annoyed by the girl's struggles and attempts at speaking.

"That's it, I don't care, let's just put them in the coffins now." Tayuya's eyes widened, wondering what the hell they meant by that. Sasuke also seemed interested, raising an eyebrow at the word 'coffin'.

"How is that supposed to give me more power?" The Sound Four merely laughed before Jirobo produced two pills from a pouch.

"The coffins merely keep you from hurting yourself. These are what activate the second stage of the curse mark." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at that but took the small pill anyway, quickly clambering into the rounded coffin before swallowing the pill. Jirobo quickly clamped on the lid and hefted the weighty coffin onto his back. Sakon took the other pill and regarded Tayuya harshly whilst she stared at the pill in his hands with fury.

Sakon quickly ripped off the gunk from Tayuya's face and before the girl could utter a sound the man grasped her jaw, forced her mouth open and shoved the pill in. Tayuya went to immediately spit it out but Sakon beat her to it, putting his hand over her nose and mouth so she couldn't breathe. Tayuya struggled for a few minute but eventually her lungs demanded oxygen and she was forced to swallow.

As soon as she did so Sakon released her and she felt a burning sensation from her gut; before it became too intense she was hoisted up and shoved into the second coffin they had brought. The lid came down with a thud and was quickly sealed into place; Tayuya felt blinding pain before passing out. Finally Kidomarou lifted the coffin and the sound four took off again, hurrying to get back to their master in time.

* * *

Naruto had caught up to Gaara and was happily chatting with his stoic friend when he suddenly dropped to his knees and grabbed his wrist in pain. Gaara could plainly see that the small petal mark imprinted on the blonde's wrist was glowing ominously. Naruto had to prevent himself from crying out in pain by biting down on his lip, drawing blood. Finally the pain passed and he stood up shakily, looking back and forth before his eyes settled on Gaara.

"Tayuya's in trouble." Naruto quickly took off with Gaara on his tail; both of their faces set in determined and serious masks as they quickly located the highest point in the area. Naruto stood on the tall tower and sniffed deeply in every direction, searching for some hint of Tayuya's location. He came up with nothing; she was in a crowd and he couldn't discern her scent or she had left the village; he really hoped it was the former.

"We should inform the Hokage and get help with this." As ever Gaara was the voice of reason in stressful situations and Naruto nodded lamely, following after him as they sprinted for the large building that dominated the village's skyline. It didn't take too long for the two Jinchuuriki to reach the Hokage tower and before long they were brushing past the Hokage's secretary and bursting through her door. Tsunade looked at them over a stack of paperwork, immediately noting their very serious expressions.

"What is it brat? Can't you see I have a stack of paperwork that's going to take all night to get through?" Naruto just narrowed his eyes, not really giving a damn about a pile of meaningless sheets when his friend was in danger.

"Tayuya's in trouble and we need help finding her." Tsunade looked at him curiously; she had never seen Naruto this serious before.

"What kind of trouble, and how do you know?" Naruto growled in irritation, he didn't have time to explain.

"I don't know what kind of trouble, that's why we need help!" He would have slammed his hands down on the desk but there wasn't an inch of it not covered in various documents or forms.

"Look brat, I can't help you if you don't even know what the probl-" She was interrupted as an ANBU suddenly appeared in the corner of the room.

"Lady Hokage, four Sound ninja were seen fleeing the village with one Sasuke Uchiha and an unknown red-haired girl who appeared to be bound." Naruto's eyes shot open and he snarled visibly, already making for the door.

"Naruto wait!" Begrudgingly he turned and took his hand off the door handle, looking at the youthful Hokage expectantly with barely concealed irritation. Tsunade turned to the ANBU who had the mask painted to give the impression of a dog. "Give me more information." The ANBU nodded curtly.

"Our Intel places the Sound nin as the Sound Four, Orochimaru's elite bodyguards also responsible for the barrier seal that prevented us from helping the Sandaime. It would also appear that the Uchiha was not bound in any fashion, apparently leaving of his own free will." Tsunade nodded mulling the information over.

"How many ANBU are currently available?" Even under the mask everybody could tell the ANBU was frowning.

"None Lady Hokage, all ANBU units are currently on missions or in their appropriate positions defending the village." Naruto snarled at that, if that was true then how did the foreign ninja even get into the village? Tsunade also grimaced at the news, there was a similar situation with the jounin as well; all were either with their squads or on missions.

"Round up available chuunin and genin immediately. Have them in my office in five minutes!" The ANBU nodded before vanishing from the room, leaving an irate Naruto who was subconsciously scratching the petal mark on his wrist.

"We don't have five minutes! They could be hurting Tayuya right now!" Tsunade just turned to Naruto with the most understanding expression she could muster.

"Look Naruto I know you care about your teammate but you heard that ANBU, they're Orochimaru's elite guards. You'll need some back up if you hope to take them on at all." Naruto growled but couldn't escape the woman's logic. He irritably paced the room as he waited for the ANBU to return with the other shinobi. He didn't but the other recruits quickly appeared in the room. In the end the only ones the ANBU could find on such short notice were Kiba, Lee, and Neji.

They were quickly informed of the situation although they were more concerned with Sasuke's defection than Tayuya's kidnapping, much to Naruto's annoyance. He did however idly notice that Lee and Neji were wearing their village's chuunin flak jackets, which meant that one of them, would probably be leading the mission considering he wasn't actually a shinobi of the Leaf. Finally they were all caught up and were running for the gates, quick to get on the kidnappers trail.

Naruto was impatient and kept pulling ahead of the group as they sprinted across the village, constantly having to be recalled by Gaara. Lee could keep up with him but he didn't have the same sense of urgency as Naruto did, not to mention that every time he would try to run ahead Neji would pull him back. As Naruto had thought, the previously stuck-up Hyuuga had been put in command of the mission.

They regrouped at the gates of the village with Naruto impatiently looking back and forth, just waiting for them to give him the signal to go. Lee could sense his companion's eagerness and walked over, placing a firm hand on his back.

"Don't worry my friend, we shall retrieve your teammate and our wayward Sasuke, just you wait." The words irritated Naruto more than anything else but he offered a fake smile just to get Lee to go away. Neji had them come around so he could draw out the plan, a waste of time in Naruto's opinion. He and Gaara could take these guys on without problem and the others would just end up dragging them down. Normally Naruto would have appreciated the help but he was agitated and if he moved at full speed then only Lee might have been able to keep up.

"Alright, we have no idea about the abilities of our opponents, therefore when we approach we should observe before we engage." Naruto growled at that but reluctantly nodded along with the rest of the group. "We should try and avoid getting separated if possible but ultimately our objectives are the retrieval of Sasuke and Tayuya," another round of nods from the assembled shinobi.

"We will move out now in a spread out formation to cover more ground with Naruto and Kiba in the front as they can track our targets. Gaara and Lee will be a bit further behind them as support and I will take up the rear to watch out for any traps or tricks the targets may leave for us." More nods quickly followed.

"When we get closer we will slow down and assume a similar formation with Kiba in the front, followed by Naruto, followed by Gaara then Lee and finally myself." After Neji waited for the nods he motioned with his hand and the group was immediately off.

Naruto was extremely frustrated as he raced through the trees, while Kiba was fast he wasn't as fast as he was and he had to limit himself to avoid getting ahead of the group. He and Gaara may have been a strong unit but on his own he doubted being able to take on four possibly jounin-level shinobi. He wanted to turn around and tell the Inuzuka to get a move on but he was more focused on locating Tayuya's scent, which proved to be highly difficult.

Instead he locked onto any unfamiliar scents that he could tell apart from the more natural smells of the forest. Eventually he caught something and took off in that direction quickly followed by the rest of the group. A small amount of time later and Kiba confirmed his suspicions, also picking up the unfamiliar scent. Naruto was still concerned that he was unable to track Tayuya normally and couldn't help but worry what they had done to his girlfriend and teammate.

After a few hours of tree hopping the Sound Four finally had to rest after lugging two heavy coffins on their backs for such a distance. Naruto grinned when he noticed this but that quickly turned into a grimace when Neji ordered everybody to slow down and get into formation. They did so with a fair amount of muted complaining from the blonde and they quietly approached the group. It wasn't difficult to avoid their traps with the aid of Neji's Byakugan; he even spotted the third layer thanks to the trace chakra flowing through the strands of web-like substance.

To this effect they were able to creep up on their opponents undetected and all gathered around on a tree branch to watch what was happening. The Sound Four just appeared to be resting against trees, catching their breaths after such a strenuous run. Naruto also noticed that Neji and Gaara also seemed slightly winded while he, Kiba, and Lee all still seemed full of energy. They took a moment to observe their enemies to see what they could glean, quickly coming to the same assumptions that Tayuya had, not a few hours ago.

Unfortunately Kiba couldn't help the gasp he let out when he saw Hibiki amongst the group, wearing their uniform no less, alerting the four to their presence. Immediately the four had to dodge the webbing Kidomarou shot out, diving from the branch into the clearing where they quickly took up a loose defensive formation.

"Neji, where are Sasuke and Tayuya?" The Hyuuga seemed to be concentrating extra hard on the group, his Byakugan flaring.

"I think they're in the coffins." All the Konoha shinobi glanced at him curiously while not taking their eyes off the enemy who had yet to make a move.

"You think?" It was Lee who had asked, although they were all thinking the same thing.

"There is something blocking my Byakugan to a degree, I think it's the seals on the coffins but I can't tell." Only one of their group wasn't really listening.

"Hibiki! What are you doing with them?" The brown-haired boy merely smirked at his former teammate, sneering at the yipping dog in his jacket.

"Please, I was a spy for Lord Orochimaru this whole time. You idiots of the Leaf never suspected a thing!" Kiba growled menacingly, soon joined by both Akamaru and Naruto who was more eyeing the two coffins.

"Hibiki, hold these clowns off, we still need to make it to Lord Orochimaru on time." The tenketsu-controlling boy nodded with a smile, still eyeing Kiba mockingly. The other members of the sound four had caught their breath and replaced the coffin on their backs before taking off. Naruto made a move to follow them but was cut off by Hibiki. He managed to dodge the rather clumsy strike but was still forced back.

"Fine Saito, you want to go again? I'll rip you to shreds for taking Tayuya!" Naruto was about to make good on his promise when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked back at Kiba with surprise.

"No, you guys go on." He looked at Hibiki with no small amount of disgust "I'll keep the traitor here busy." Naruto waited in a moment of indecision however upon seeing Kiba's determined but betrayed face he nodded grimly, taking off with the rest of the group. Hibiki made a move to cut them off again but he was sent flying back by a vicious kick from Kiba.

"Your fight is with me." Hibiki narrowed his eyes but smirked all the same.

"If that's what you want."

* * *

Naruto spared a fleeting thought for Kiba as he ran on but quickly erased it and focused on the tree branches ahead of him. They were only a few minutes behind the targets and they were laden down so the pursuing shinobi had the speed advantage. Of course they weren't expecting the ground in front of them to suddenly rise up into an enormous slab, forcing them to veer off to the side before it could descend and crush them.

They regrouped as the dust settled, panting from the sudden attack. When the smoke finally cleared they saw the largest of the sound four staring at them smirking. Naruto narrowed his eyes, working out what the group was doing.

"They're trying to delay us. We need to get to the coffins quickly!" The others in the group nodded their heads in agreement while Lee stepped towards Jirobo.

"I will keep our opponent busy and match my flames of youth against his!" Naruto looked uncertain but when Neji nodded at his teammate Naruto couldn't argue.

"Fine then, but be careful, once you deal with him make sure to catch up." Lee nodded with an exuberant grin, raising a thumb towards his comrades as they sprinted off around the clearing leaving Jirobo to face Lee.

"Hah, I won't even need my curse mark to deal with a pipsqueak like you!" Lee just continued to smile as he settled into an offensive gyuken stance, his hand raised out in front of him palm up.

"Let us fight!"

* * *

Naruto noticed their numbers had dwindled and knew it couldn't stay like this or they would be weakened too much to help Tayuya. Unfortunately he was distracted and managed to run headfirst into a large web that spanned two trees, instantly getting caught on its gooey surface. He managed to keep one of his arms from getting stuck but before he could warn the others they met a similar fate, each getting embarrassingly stuck like flies. The six-armed member of the group, Kidomarou, dropped down onto a branch facing all three-stuck shinobi.

"Hah, it's almost too easy. It's not even surprising anymore how many people fall for a simple trap like that." Naruto struggled against his bonds but found them to be unbreakable, at least to him. Neji just seemed to be examining them with his Byakugan while Gaara had slowly leaked out and from his gourd and was currently doing something Naruto couldn't quite make out. "It's impossible, that webbing is enhanced with chakra and you can't break it."

Naruto caught the successive smirks from Neji and Gaara and figured they had found a way to escape. Not to be outdone he summoned a kunai to his free arm and carefully launched it at the six-armed Sound shinobi. Kidomarou just moved his head to the side allowing the kunai to pierce the tree behind him, smiling amusedly.

"Is that the best you can do? I would expect a little better from chuunin." Naruto shrugged, or at least to the best of his ability while stuck like this. Kidomarou laughed again but that instantly stopped when Naruto just vanished. His eyes opened wide in shock before a foot connected with the back of his head, sending him hurtling down to the forest floor below them. He managed to send out a web and swing onto the bough of a nearby tree only to see Neji and Gaara standing across from him, also free.

"How? That's impossible!" Both ninja smirked, enjoying their opponent's confusion; Neji decided to explain first.

"Simple, with my Byakugan I could see the chakra flow in your webs. Using my juuken style it was simple to stop that flow making it easy to cut with a finger strike. Kidomarou's eye twitched at the arrogant explanation as he looked across at Gaara.

"You aren't the only one with chakra-infused substances at your control." That was all the explanation he was going to give the enemy, it was pointless to give away all his abilities. Neji stood up on the branch, motioning with his hands to Gaara and Naruto.

"Go, I can deal with his webs easily now that I understand them. You two must rescue Tayuya and confront Sasuke." The two Suna shinobi nodded; the pattern was unbroken so far so they saw no reason to do so now. Either way there were two of them left and only one of the Sound Four. The blonde and the redhead took off, trusting in their companions to handle their respective fights. They had seen each one fight in the Chuunin Exams and all of them were more than capable, it would come down to just how dangerous their opponents turned out to be.

* * *

It didn't take long to catch up to Sakon who inexplicably seemed to have split into two people, the lump on his back vanishing. Each carried a different coffin so were markedly slower than Naruto and Gaara. Even so, they managed to outpace them long enough to reach a large open field at the centre of the forest. The blue-haired man and his double turned wearily, unable to outrun their pursuers any longer. They placed the coffins down and turned to face Naruto and Gaara as the temporary Leaf nin dropped into the clearing themselves.

"There's no where left to run!" Both Sakon's grinned at their opponents, turning to one another.

"You hear that Ukon? They think we were running."

"Funny isn't it brother? They just walked right into our trap like good little idiots." Naruto seethed at the flippant conversation between the two Sound shinobi.

"Shut up and fight so we can kick your asses and take Tayuya back!" Sakon and Ukon chuckled as they glanced at the containers behind them.

"Oh brother, I do thing the little Leaf nin are too late." The other one nodded happily.

"I do think you're right brother. Oh well would you look at that?" Sure enough the coffins behind them began to spew an acrid purple smoke that drifted across the ground like dry ice.

"What are you doing to Tayuya!?" The brothers smirked again.

"Hmm, he wants to know about stage two Ukon."

"Maybe we should show them Sakon." Two large grins split the brothers' features as they finally turned around and dropped into a fighting stance and spoke simultaneously.

"This ought to be fun."


	29. Chapter 29

Kiba glared across at Hibiki, trying to get all of his anger and betrayal across in that single look to which the Sound spy merely smirked. It had amused him every day that the people around him actually believed he was befriending them, unknowingly giving him information and even training to better his goals. The best part had been fooling his sensei, for such a high-level jounin to fall for his charade for so long was bordering on plain sad.

"Why would you do this Hibiki?" The average-seeming boy glanced around with an air of superiority and arrogance.

"Why the hell wouldn't I?" He levelled a more serious gaze on his former 'friend'. "You could never understand with your family and normal life. Lord Orochimaru saved me, he saved all of us. He gave us meaning and purpose where before we had none. He gave our very lives existence with one simple request, out total obedience. We became tools sure but at least we _were _something for once as opposed to orphans left on the side of roads for dead." Kiba snarled, the sob-story not really getting to him through his veil of anger.

"It doesn't matter what kind of life you had. Nothing is worth selling your soul to that snake bastard!" Hibiki's fist shook for a moment as he suppressed a moment of rage before returning his gaze to something more neutral.

"Like I said, you would never understand the pain of losing your entire family, of being thrown aside by everybody you used to call friend!" Kiba settled into his offensive taijutsu stance, smirking as his usual confident air replaced his anger as his fight reflexes kicked in.

"You're right, I don't understand because I do have a family, one I'll be going back to after I hand you your ass!" Hibiki growled, his hands opening and closing in fists as he readied his chakra network for his complex ability. Kiba recognised this after so long of training with the boy and decided he couldn't let him prepare or stall any longer. Kiba launched himself at Hibiki much in the same way he had Sasuke in the preliminaries, the only difference being he was now much faster.

After seeing what Lee could do Kiba had decided to experiment with weights and while he was only in the early stages of the training the results were promising. His strength and speed were vastly improved past his usual family's training standards, shocking both his mother and his sister. It was enough that they actually began experimenting with adding the weights to the normal aspect of their family taijutsu. Of course they didn't go to the extreme of always wearing the weights, something like that could prove more detrimental than helpful.

He smirked at the results first hand when he managed to shock Hibiki and drive a fist squarely into the boy's gut, making the traitor double-over from the blow. Kiba tried to follow up with his claw-like nails but only passed through Hibiki as he vibrated out of harm's way. Kiba had seen how Naruto dealt with that problem but Hibiki had made adjustments to that style. When Kiba would try to keep his body occupying the same space as Hibiki's blurred form the boy would dodge or jump out of the way before retaliating with a swift and vicious counter.

It was a brutally efficient and dangerous style, one that Kiba actually found himself hard-pressed to overcome. Nearly all of his strikes were rendered completely useless and those that did hit made him come away with burns to his fists. He backed off a bit, giving him time to think, not an activity Kiba usually took a part of in the middle of the fight. He had sparred a few times with Hibiki over the months but only now it was becoming apparent just how much he had been holding back.

"We got fairly close over these past few months, wouldn't you say Kiba?" The Inuzuka narrowed his eyes, recognising that the boy was stalling for time, both for his teammate's sake and to catch his breath. His vibration technique was now second nature but it was still relatively chakra-consuming when used in short succession like he had been forced to. A growl was all the answer he received making the brown-haired boy smirk from the emotional rise he was getting.

"I'll take that as a yes. As such, I've decided I'll end this quickly." Kiba growled again as he saw Hibiki split into two clones, both as real as each other and twice as dangerous. "I never could take that annoying blonde's advice and learn the shadow clones, but I did decide to upgrade my own moves a bit." Kiba watched in hidden amazement as the two Hibikis split apart again so here were now four in a line in front of Kiba.

"What do you think?" His vice had taken on a somewhat buzzing quality due to the intense vibrations his body was being put through. Kiba wondered how this was even physically possible, then in a world where people could walk on water and form clones out of thin air he decided to just go with it and focus on not dying.

"Man Beast Clone!" Kiba through Akamaru out of his jacket in time for the small dog to puff out into a ball of smoke, only to reappear as a perfect duplicate of himself. "Come on boy, that's two each." His doppelganger yipped in agreement, a strange sight coming from what was supposed to be a feral-looking teenage boy. Hibiki just chuckled in his static-filled voice and all four of them dropped down into a solid taijutsu stance as markings reminiscent of lightning began to move across his face.

* * *

Lee dodged underneath another heavy swing from the surprisingly fast Jirobo as the man roared out in annoyance yet again at his swift opponent. As hard as the man tried he couldn't land one of his devastating blows on the spandex-wearing taijutsu protégé. One hit would be all it took but he couldn't even manage that much; luckily for the ginger giant his opponent so far had merely dodged all his attacks.

"While I admit your fighting is most youthful and energetic indeed, I must disagree with your methods of kidnapping a woman such as the fair Tayuya. I am honour-stricken to do everything in my power to save such a damsel in distress so I wish you a good fight." Satisfied with his opening monologue Lee grinned wildly as he flipped back from the muscular man and landed with the grace honed from years of intense training.

"Hold still you twig so I can crush you and that stupid bowl haircut." Lee's eye twitched a little at the comment but his form remained flawless.

"I must have you know that my hair is based off of the handsome devil of the Leaf Village Guy-sensei and I will not have you insult him!" Jirobo seemed a little confused by that, hesitating in taking a step which was all the opening Lee required. He zipped out of existence just faster than the Sound nin's eyes could follow and appeared in front of him.

"Leaf Hurricane!" Jirobo felt a strong spinning kick impact with his stomach and as he moved to defend against the next attack he felt the boy try to sweep his legs out from under him. Unfortunately for Lee it was like kicking a boulder; an exercise he had done many times but that still didn't mean he could move it. Jirobo retaliated by grabbing Lee, or he would have if Lee hadn't used the opportunity to slip out from his guard through his legs.

He delivered two swift and strong kicks to the back of Jirobo's knees; the areas were weaker than the rest of his legs so Lee finally felt some give. Before he could capitalize his opponent turned and once again tried to grab him only for the nimble Leaf nin to back flip away. Jirobo seemed more and more irritated as the seconds shifted by and n his impatience he drove his hands into the ground and literally dragged up a chunk of earth roughly the same size as himself.

He threw the mighty boulder straight at Lee who, much to his opponent's surprise, made no move to dodge the potentially fatal attack. Instead the boy raised his leg up in the air with unbelievable flexibility before bringing it down on top of the boulder as soon as it came into range. The power behind the kick, supplemented by the heavy weights around Lee's ankles, served to drive the earth back into the ground where it came from creating a small screen of unsettled dust from the impact.

When it all finally settled the two fighting ninja were right back to where they started, Jirobo standing across from Lee in his confident opening position. The behemoth of a man roared out in annoyance as arrows spread out from his shoulder, covering his face in intricate patterns that Lee observed for a moment with a grin.

"Very well, if you believe we can move onto the next stage of out fight we shall!" Jirobo looked confused as Lee bend over to remove his ankle weights, both at once. Having been noticeably absent from the Chuunin Exam finals he was thoroughly surprised at the size of the craters left behind when Lee dropped the enormous loads. Jirobo's eyes widened slightly before returning to their original scowling position.

"Is that all you got kid? Weights? That's not going to be enough to beat m-" He had to cut off his own sentence as he felt a kick like a steel bar smack across his face, sending the irate giant across the field. Lee just stood where he had been, bobbing slightly with a grin on his face.

"Most youthful indeed!"

* * *

Neji spun around, his Byakugan working overtime as every finger strike found its target in the form of the multitudes of spiders swarming down on him. The enormous queen above him glared at him with her eight dead eyes, scowling if such a thing were possible for arachnids. He looked up at Kidomarou, now adorned with the black swirling patterns of his curse mark's stage one. Neji cursed at what he thought would have been a much easier fight, and would have been without that bastardised fuinjutsu.

He panted for breath as he finished of the last of the spiders, the webs they used to descend still hanging like thin, silvery willow branches. He refused to show weakness in front of his opponent by resting his hands on his knees but even so the exhaustion of this fight was beginning to wear on him. He caught a second wind as he looked up to see the next wave of the spider summons swarming down on him from above.

"Byakugan!"

* * *

Kiba and Akamaru were back to back, dodging, weaving and blocking only when absolutely necessary. There were burn marks along his arms that screamed out for attendance and treatment but he gritted his elongated teeth and fought through the pain. Every time he aimed a kick or a punch he would try and get Hibiki right between where his two bodies were flickering between. Every time the boy would miraculously dodge without even having to move that much.

It was four against two and Kiba felt the pressure on him as Akamaru finally ran out of juice and poofed back into his real form behind him. The young Inuzuka disguised a spinning axe kick and dropped down to the ground, throwing down a smoke bomb he had managed to scavenge from his pocket at some point during the fight.

"Drilling Fang!" When the acrid purple smoke finally cleared the Hibikis could clearly see the human-sized tunnel dug directly into the ground. A few seconds later Kiba emerged from the ground a dozen feet away, spraying earth and mud around as his drilling body burst from the soil. He shook it off in the manner best befitting a clan who shared qualities with dogs before looking back over at Hibiki, trying to judge the boy's next attack.

The average-looking boy proved hard to read as his four clones merged back into two before finally a lone Hibiki stood across from Kiba. The Inuzuka pulled out two specialise soldier pills from his jacket, feeding one to Akamaru and popping the other in his own mouth to gain back the chakra and energy they had both spent. Akamaru's features grew wilder and less domestic as his coat shifted from its usual pure white to a more intimidating red.

"Don't think we're done yet Hibiki!" The other boy just glanced back with an amused expression.

"I would hope not." Kiba grimaced as his ex-friend managed to get under his skin again before throwing Akamaru back onto the ground.

"Man Beast Clone!" Hibiki just sighed at the reused technique and moved into his own stance, ready to split apart again.

"Fang Over Fang!" The last jutsu caught the traitor off guard as the Kibas suddenly erupted into human, and canine, drills. They charged right at him in perfect tandem to what would usually be a fatal or at least severely debilitating attack. While still mildly surprised that Kiba was still able to pull off such a taxing technique Hibiki sighed again. When the spinning duo approached Hibiki began his own spin, rapidly expelling chakra from the tenketsu in only one side of his body, quickly propelling his boy around in a move not dissimilar from Neji's rotation.

The two drill-like Kibas bounced harmlessly off the spinning Sound nin, ricocheting off him to bounce of the trees that bordered the clearing. They spring-boarded off of the trunks and tried to return and perform the same move as they had before only to get the same results. This repeated a few times as Hibiki continued his impromptu rotation technique while Kiba and Akamaru bounced around the clearing, unable to harm him.

Finally Kiba had to stop, the stress of the technique to much for him as he nearly collapsed to the ground across from Hibiki. He was quickly joined by his equally exhausted pup; now back to his rightful snowy white as they both lay breathless on the ground. Hibiki slowed down his own jutsu to a stop looking a little dizzy but not much worse off. He smirked at his nearly defeated opponents and calmly began to walk over, only for Kiba to weakly raise his head.

"Hey Saito, I bet you don't have enough chakra to do that clone technique again." Hibiki glared furiously at the boy; despite his near defeat he was still able to try and mock his attacker. Hibiki just stared at him more viciously while smirking to himself, he guessed he could do it as a last request for a dead man. His body vibrated rapidly and quickly split into two people, both approaching Kiba with menace in their eyes. Kiba just chuckled and pulled out a single kunai from the pouch at his waist, holding it in trembling and exhausted hands.

"Really Kiba? You're that desperate?" Kiba chuckled once again earning increased levels of hatred from the approaching traitor. The downed Inuzuka stared at the simple piece of steel for a moment before flicking it as hard as he could between Hibiki's blurred forms. Of course it just passed harmlessly through allowing the other boy to let out a victorious laugh as he once again took to staring at the panting boy with arrogance.

"Pathetic, I don't even have to resort to stage two. Well if that's all you have Kiba then-" That's as far as he got before Kiba tugged at the wire in his hand, pulling it taught from the kunai embedded in the tree across the clearing. The last thing Hibiki saw was the flash of light reflecting off the metal wire before darkness. Kiba finally let out a long sigh as he laid his head back against the grass. Darkness crept up on his vision as he contemplated the clouds above him, wondering for a moment what Shikamaru saw in them before succumbing to exhaustion and passing out.

Later on the ANBU and medical shinobi would come across the strange scene of a severely chakra exhausted boy in a fur-trimmed jacket; a dog proudly perched on his chest. The battlefield itself was a mess of burns, craters and a large but thin tunnel that was slowly collapsing on itself. To top it off the legs of another shinobi could be seen lying on the floor, the respective torso a few feet away from it.

* * *

Right now, all that was keeping Jirobo alive and not a small pummelled mass on the ground was his extraordinary durability. Lee's blows came too fast and too unpredictably for the giant to see or effectively counter, rendering him unable to return the flurry of rock-hard blows that rained down on his muscled body. Occasionally he would catch a brief glimpse of green only to have it disappear and the back of his head smacked with the force of a small boulder.

Jirobo's patience grew incredibly thin as Lee appeared again a few dozen feet away, not even looking remotely winded while Jirobo was covered in bruises. He wasn't majorly hurt but if the fight continued in this fashion then he would slowly be worn down until he was just a vaguely human-shaped stain on the ground.

"You have lasted much longer than I thought, your flames of youth must surely burn bright but I must ask if you are now willing to surrender peacefully before I am forced to take more drastic precautions." Jirobo grimaced; he didn't really want to find out what those drastic precautions were if everything so far had just been the warm up. He grunted as the arrow markings on his face distorted and spread to the rest of his body.

His skin became the same color red as dried blood while his hair grew wilder in the places it still grew at all. Certain areas of his body became blotchy and deformed as swellings and lumps appeared to highlight his hideous change. Imperceptibly his muscles expanded, increasing his already intimidating presence by a few inches. Lee decided to test out what this new form of Jirobo's brought and blurred forward faster than the normal human eye could detect.

Luckily for the red giant his eyes were now far from human and as Lee's foot swung out for the man's face he caught it in a crushing embrace. He held onto the ankle he had caught with one hand, slowly increasing the pressure by closing his fist. Before his lower-leg could be completely crushed Lee twisted his body and lashed out with his free foot, catching the transformed sound-nin in the mouth with barely fazed him physically but was enough of a shock for Jirobo to let Lee go.

Lee backed off on his hands, feeling his injured ankle would hurt too much to put pressure on right now. He twisted and stared at his opponent, glaring at him but at the same time excited by the challenge this man brought. He hopped back so the world was the right way up, only balancing on his uninjured leg as he once again evaluated his opponent. The man was now much stronger with better reflexes and was most likely faster as well. Lee just narrowed his eyes and smirked to himself, he would just have to be even faster.

"Gate of Opening, OPEN!" Chakra began swirling menacingly around Lee and Jirobo stared at him, wondering what was going on.

"Gate of Healing, OPEN!" The chakra picked up as Lee's body tensed and the floor around him began to crack. Jirobo didn't like where this was going and began to move forward before his opponent could finish whatever he was doing.

"Gate of Life, OPEN!" The chakra now swirled like a small maelstrom as Lee began to develop a glow around his body seemingly of pure chakra. He let up there, not wanting to overdo it and completely blow out his muscles like his sensei told him. He clenched his fists and the simple action caused the ground beneath him to crack even more before his disappeared into thin air. In the time it might have taken Jirobo to blink he felt a tremendous force slamming into him from below, unbelievably lifting his weighty body from the floor.

This happened three more times, slamming him more and more painfully into the air like he could fly. He was unable to retaliate in any way as he flailed madly in the air, trying to find purchase that he knew wasn't there. Lee suddenly appeared above him, his eyes void of pupils, just white globes that stared at him like the Shinigami itself. Jirbo got one good look seared into his memory forever before Lee spun in the air, viciously slamming his uninjured foot down into Jirobo's body with the force of a train.

The crater he created upon impact was huge; his own weight plus the force of the blow enough to leave him deep in the ground. The crater only widened when Lee followed up on his attack in a straight dive bomb onto Jirobo's chest. Even through his curse mark he felt the ribs crack from that strike. He was unable to heal even a little before the action was repeated, four times. Finally Jirobo groaned out as the markings receded back into his mark while the man himself was blissfully unconscious.

Lee stood over his latest opponent with a smile, he was slowly getting more used to the effects the gates had on his body. Fairly soon he hoped to match his sensei and open the sixth gate while being nearly unaffected by the first five. Right now he felt the ache from his overworked muscles but it was more the equivalent of an entire day's strenuous training. He thanked his sensei for such rigorous routines before jogging off into the forest, certain that his opponent would not be getting up. He still had to help his friends if he could.

* * *

Neji stopped himself from screaming out when the large arrow pierced through his chest, guided at the last moment to prevent to wound being fatal. He gasped for a moment before he was able to right himself and focus on the thread leading away into the trees. He grabbed the webbing, focusing on it before his body could succumb to its injuries as he directed chakra up through it, straight into the mouth of his deformed opponent.

He rushed the multi-armed archer before he could recover, delivering blow after chakra-sealing blow into the man's unprotected chest. With each strike he felt his own body failing him but he carried on through the pain until with a gasp he was able to call out.

"Sixty-four Palms!" Kidomarou flew back from the strike, if not dead then severely wounded. Neji smiled up at the sky for a moment, realising that he had done it; he had proved the people who called him a genius right. He had earned the name now and was allowed to finally let the pain that threatened to overwhelm him come crashing down like a flood. His last waking thought as he fell backwards onto the ground was a flash of green and a familiar black bowl-cut. He was already unconscious by the time two arms firmly stopped him from hitting the floor.

* * *

Naruto and Gaara were still focused on the two identical brothers before them but as usual Gaara was letting no moment go to waste and was already sifting his sand through the earth. Sakon and Ukon seemed to be playing with them more than anything else, bantering between themselves as they leant on their respective coffins dangerously, as if they would just reach in and snap the occupant's neck at a moment's notice, which Naruto figured was the idea.

"Well brother, I do believe the process is nearly finished."

"Yes, I remember our time in the coffin. Most painful if I remember right." His brother nodded along with him, further enraging Naruto.

"Give me back Tayuya or I will rip you two to shreds!" Both brothers put a hand over their mouths in mock shock and indignation.

"Really brother, the rudeness on this one."

"I know, it is sometimes so difficult to find civility in shinobi these days." Again the brothers shared a sympathetic nod as Sakon turned to the two seriously, capturing their attention.

"Besides, I don't even think it's possible for us to be ripped into shreds. You see the Kekkei Genkai we share allows us to sift our own molecules through those of out targets or really any solid object" A devious smile enveloped the androgynous man's face. "Isn't that right brother?" Both Gaara and Naruto looked across only to start in shock when they noticed Ukon was nowhere to be seen. They heard and ominous cackling from somewhere suspiciously close to Gaara as the two desperately looked around for any sign of the wayward enemy.

"Oh please, you'll never find my brother looking around" Again a smirk developed on his green-painted lips. "You'll have to look a bit more inward." The man chuckled at his own joke before they heard that same cackling, this time seemingly from where Gaara was standing. To both of their shock Ukon's head appeared to melt out of Gaara's shoulder like his body was nothing more than water.

"Hmmm, I've never inhabited a jinchuuriki before." Ukon frowned from his position inside of Gaara, his molecules spread out through the boys form. "They feel like-" He was frankly cut off as a gravely shout came from the forest behind them.

"Sand Burial!" Ukon's and Sakon's eyes' both widened in panic as the body Ukon was inhabiting suddenly lost its colour, instead becoming grainy and beige. Immediately the sand clone detonated, exploding outwards taking Ukon ad his molecule sifting body with it. Sakon just stared wide-eyed at where the clone had been standing before glaring at Gaara as he emerged from the forest, fist still held out in front of him, clenched tightly.

"You killed my brother!" Gaara's eyes narrowed at the last of the sound four pointing out the obvious.

"I'm sorry, would you have liked to go first?" The deadpan tone with which Gaara spoke only increased the menace behind his words. Sakon's eyes darted dangerously back and forth, caught between terror and righteous fury for his brother's murderer.

"I'll kill you for that!" However despite the words the pale man didn't move an inch in his muscles. Gaara began to raise his hand again while sand drained out of the ground, quickly forming into a small uneven ball in front of him. He hoped to use this moment of indecision and cowardice to his advantage; they had pissed him off by kidnapping Tayuya.

"Sand Bullets" From the floating ball little pebble-sized chunks of sand flew out at frightening velocities, straight at Sakon's frozen form. He was only saved as a tall pale man suddenly dropped down from the sky and stood right in the way of the attack. The bullets merely punctured the man's skin without penetrating the inexplicable layer of solid bone beneath.

"Kimimaro, what are you doing here?" The pale man turned to his teammate, staring at him with emotionless, cold eyes.

"Lord Orochimaru grew impatient with waiting. I have come to serve him by giving the vessel time to complete the process." Kimimaro levelled an equally cold and blank look at Naruto and Gaara. "And if that requires the removal of these two then so be it." Behind him Sakon shook his head, looking at his teammate in worry.

"But Kimimaro, your illness!" The glare the tall man levelled at Sakon was far from cold that time.

"I live to serve Lord Orochimaru and if it requires the sacrifice of my own life then I will do so gladly." Naruto and Gaara took in this entire scene somewhat impassively, wondering where this new guy had come from and what his abilities were. Naruto had just seen him survive a near-point blank range sand bullet. That attack was enough to break bones usually.

There was also that body armour they had seen, Naruto could have sworn it was actually bone but bone wasn't that tough. He narrowed his eyes as the two Sound nin finally finished their conversation and Sakon took off, fleeing from Naruto and his brother's murderer to the relative safety of Orochimaru. Naruto couldn't have cared less honestly; he hadn't taken the coffins so Naruto was more than happy to focus on the pale, lanky one until he could rescue Tayuya.

"Gaara, we should make this quick, that other guy might be going for reinforcements." Gaara nodded to him which the blonde Jinchuuriki caught from the corner of his eye as he didn't want to take his attention from Kimimaro.

"You two should flee while you can, nobody has ever survived my dances before." In any other situation Naruto might have laughed from the absurdity of a shinobi telling his opponent they were about to defeat them with a dance. He knew that sometimes specialised kenjutsu styles are names after dances but Naruto couldn't see a sword on the man's person. He thought it might have something to do with that strange armour ability but he hoped not.

He was finally tired of waiting and dropped into his four legged stance, Gaara just impassively crossing his arms looking almost as bored as Kimimaro.

"I will warn you only one more time, do not fight me or you will die." Naruto snorted, the man was about to face two jinchuuriki, he had no idea what was about to hit him.


	30. Chapter 30

Naruto sprinted across the ground at Kimimaro but before he completely closed he distance he unsealed a kunai and threw it straight at the man. As predicted he simply caught the kunai in mid-flight and looked about ready to throw it straight back when Naruto disappeared from view.

"Thanks for holding onto that." Kimimaro felt the kunai taken from his gasp as Naruto twisted his body into an awkward shape to deliver the fastest and most lethal kick he knew to the back of his head. What he wasn't expecting was for two long bones to suddenly rip themselves out of Kimimaro's back and cross over the back of his head, stopping Naruto's foot from landing. In his shock he didn't properly react when Kimimaro countered by spinning furiously and elbowing Naruto in the chest.

He was launched back by the surprising power of the blow, obviously supplemented as Naruto watched the man's elbow receded back through his skin. The terminally ill man was given no respite as sand shot up from the ground all around him, trying to capture the man and crush him to death. Kimimaro skilfully jumped and arced his body through the air away from the sand to land back on his feet with the grace of a ballet dancer.

"Dance of the Camelia." Even in a fight Kimimaro's voice was emotionless and blunt although his unusual style of fighting captivated both Gaara and Naruto. They watched in fascination as the man's own arm bone slid out of his wrist turning into the perfect sword, lightweight and tough. Gaara didn't stay distracted long, quickly sending out tendrils of his sand to either ensnare or crush the agile Kekkei Genkai possessor.

Naruto couldn't get close enough to attack while Gaara was using his sands like this so he retreated a fair distance to give the two opponents room to manoeuvre. It really was a sight to see, Kimimaro would bend his body to escape Gaara's sand and in all honesty Naruto had to admit the man made it look like a dance. The tendrils and arms he couldn't dodge were sliced clean through by the surprisingly sharp bone blade. The two seemed to be at a stalemate and both realised it, Gaara quickly withdrawing his sand while Kimimaro jumped backwards impassively.

"Naruto I need time to prepare, keep him busy." The blonde grumbled a little staring across that the very adept combatant who was returning his sword to its rightful place in his arm.

"Easier said than done!" Gaara just shot him a glare and Naruto let of a few choice mumbles again before deciding against Taijutsu this time. His foot was sore thinking about hitting those bones again. He formed his hand into a familiar seal and immediately five of him appeared out of thin air, each drawing a kunai and channelling wind chakra into the blade. Instantly the kunai in his clones' hands were sharper and more durable, perfect for what he had in mind. They all took off straight at Kimimaro who stayed perfectly still, collecting himself for fighting multiple enemies.

"Dance of the Willow." All over his body long white bones protruded in vicious spikes that ended in deadly points. As the clones approached with Naruto staying back to observe and possible support they split up. Two went in one direction whilst two went the other, circling the bone-wielder as the last clone jumped high into the air using its fellow clone as a springboard. Kimimaro just moved down into a well-practised crouching stance allowing the sun to shine on his bony protrusions.

The four on the ground attacked simultaneously, all lashing out at the same time with their wind-enhanced kunai. The manoeuvre forced Kimimaro to produce more bones from his body from much more awkward places. The clone in the air came down clutching a rasengan, only for Kimimaro to dodge out of the way at the last minute and send a kick to the clone's unprotected stomach, dispersing it. Naruto grimaced as the clone's memories returned to him and he rubbed his stomach painfully; that was a strong kick. The other four continued to battle Kimimaro at close distance, keeping him occupied if not winning the fight itself as Gaara seemed to gather his energy for something.

Kimimaro grabbed one of the clones by the leg when it overextended a kick and used its momentum to send it hurtling into another ne, dispersing both in a poof of smoke. The remaining clones looked to Gaara nervously but held their ground against the very skilled Sound nin. One of them got a lucky blow in and sliced one of Kimimaro's protrusions clean off. His celebration was cut short when the man simply grew it back, bones magically appearing out of nothing as the spike was restored.

Kimimaro took the clone's slightly shocked hesitancy as a moment to deliver a vicious kick, enough to destroy the clone earning another wince from the real Naruto. The final clone just looked at Kimimaro with but anxiety and curiosity.

"How are you doing that?" The older shinobi narrowed his eyes at the boy, looking for some kind of deception, finding nothing but genuine curiosity the man sighed which in turn elicited a round of coughing that didn't sound healthy at all. Naruto suddenly remembered Sakon talking about an illness and he wondered if this was it.

"I have the rare bloodline trait of the Kaguya clan. It allows me to directly and sometimes indirectly control my osteoblast and osteoclast cells to grow and reshape my bones on a whim." Kimimaro punctuated this sentence by sending out his finger bones like tiny pullets, riddling the last clone with them as it finally dispersed out of existence. Naruto took a moment to get over the phantom pain of essentially being shot before he stood up tall.

"Why would you fight for someone like Orochimaru?" Kimimaro narrowed his eyes and Naruto immediately regretted bringing it up.

"I fight for Lord Orochimaru because he saved me. My clan were warlike and barbaric, fighting everything with a pulse because they refused to move out of the era of barbarians and into the era of shinobi. As such they were cut down where they stood and I would have joined them were it not for my abilities and Lord Orochimaru. He saved me, gave my life purpose and meaning." He finished the speech with another bout of coughs, this time louder and worse than the last.

"I have failed my master too many times, I could not strike down the Kazekage like he asked of me." Naruto's eyes widened while Gaara's narrowed dangerously, whatever he was doing speeding up. "Then this illness prevented me from becoming his host. I cannot fail him again so I must bring back the vessel so my life can have meaning again." All through the speech Kimimaro had been advancing on Naruto who had concurrently backed off, not quite knowing how to combat the bone-manipulator without using the Kyuubi's chakra which he didn't want to do for risk of losing control again.

Luckily Gaara finally relaxed as he finished, bringing his arms up in one fluid motion as the world suddenly heaved. Both Naruto and Kimimaro were thrown about on their feet as a desert's worth of sand blasted from the ground, sweeping up into the air before condensing and slamming towards Kimimaro's unbalanced form.

"Imperial Sand burial!" The mass of sand crashed into the last Kaguya's body, crushing him against the ground as the sand dug deep with its roots while the upper half formed an enormous pyramid. Finally all the hardest elements in the ground sheathed the pyramid like a coating, that sand would now be impervious to almost any attack. They waited with bated breath for a few seconds but when nothing emerged the released the breath they had both been subconsciously holding.

Naruto sighed in relief and smiled at Gaara wearily, worn out from the fighting and running. His smile turning into a snarl as he remembered the reason they came here in the first place, he took off across the field, having to navigate the pyramid. He rounded the massive corner to see the two caskets billowing smoke now. He ran over, soon followed by Gaara, but fell to the ground as the petal mark on his wrist suddenly flared again and pain washed over his body.

He struggled to his feet only to see the two caskets practically explode outwards, releasing one last cloud of smoke which hid the two shinobi inside from view. Somebody suddenly dashed out of the cloud in the opposite direction ad Naruto knew it was Sasuke. He wouldn't have cared less about him right now but he was technically part of the objective so he waved his hand at Gaara who nodded and pursued the target quickly.

Naruto stumbled over to the other cloud of smoke, watching it slowly clear away, letting him first see a silhouette, then red hair. He smiled and increased his pace, ignoring the dull throb from his wrist as he did so. He sprinted across to Tayuya's kneeling form only to start when he got nearer. The last of the smoke cleared and he could finally see Tayuya, or at least who he assumed was Tayuya, she had undergone some changes.

It was still her; at least that much was obvious as she was wearing the clothes he had last seen her in. Except, from what parts of her skin he could see, she looked a lot darker now, beyond tanned. Her hair had also changed, lengthening and turning more a shade of pink than red. Of course the most noticeable thing he could see from this angle were the large white horns protruding from her head which weren't unlike the bone spikes Kimimaro had used himself.

Tayuya was currently staring down at her hands, her back facing away from Naruto. When she heard him step closer she flinched, huddling in closer on herself and seeming to shrink, very unlike Tayuya's personality.

"Go away Shithead, don't look at me." Naruto frowned but kept walking closer, in response Tayuya stood and tried to run away from him. Unfortunately her centre of balance had shifted and even in his weakened state Naruto was faster. He caught up and gripped her wrist, tugging at it so she spun around to face him. He grabbed her other wrist when she did so, staring at her new face for the first time.

Like he had thought, her skin had darkened making her look like she could be from Kumogakure. However it was her eyes that captivated him, gaining black markings around the outside with small points emerging from the bottom of each eye. Her eyes themselves had gained black sclera while the irises had turned the most brilliant gold. He wouldn't say the last part out loud but he also thought she had become slightly curvier in this state. Tayuya tried to turn her head away, not wanting Naruto to see her like this.

"Please Shithead, turn away, I look like a monster." Naruto scowled but it wasn't aimed at Tayuya, with an absent thought he dismissed his genjutsu and the transformation underneath it. He released his natural form to the world, ears, tails and all, and forced Tayuya to look at him by cupping her chin.

"Tayuya, you aren't a monster." Tayuya saw he had changed and frowned at him, momentarily overcoming her own insecurities out of concern.

"Shithead, what if somebody sees y-mmph!" Naruto quickly silenced her by pressing his lips against hers, making her golden eyes widen in surprise before they fluttered closed. Naruto kept his open, watching with a pleased grin as Tayuya's altered features receded before the flame-markings on her body did the same. The curse mark on her shoulder pulsed angrily at being denied but quickly the protection seal reformed around it, cutting off its influence.

Naruto sighed in relief before realising Tayuya was still kissing him, he remembered what happened last time he broke a kiss first and decided against it. He put his hands on her waist while she in turn pulled hers around his neck, both acting on pure instinct. Naruto remembered something he had read in the appropriately named 'Make-out Paradise' and prodded his tongue against Tayuya's lips, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from the girl.

Even through the shock she recognised what was happening and hesitantly opened her mouth to allow him entry. Naruto slowly moved into the girl's mouth, meeting her own tongue as both teens opened their eyes wide at the strange sensation. Neither of them found it uncomfortable or unpleasant so quickly the two writhing muscles were fighting for dominance between Naruto and Tayuya.

Surprisingly Naruto won and he claimed Tayuya's mouth before finally they both broke away from one another, panting heavily with a thin stream of saliva connecting them at the mouth. They both stared at each other, red tingeing both their cheeks as blue eyes stared into green. The intimate contact finally broke when they heard a forced cough behind them, forcing to look around and see Gaara, staring at them oddly while a large man-sized ball of sand floated behind him.

Both teens immediately shied away from one another, blushing furiously but doing their best not to let Gaara see it. Gaara smirked knowingly before he quickly saw a problem with the situation.

"Naruto, your tails." Naruto looked around, his blush replaced with confusion.

"Huh? What about them?" Gaara just sighed and put a hand to his forehead as Naruto realised what he meant. He chuckled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. It didn't take him long to replace the transformation followed by the genjutsu which Tayuya reluctantly helped him strengthen. Finished, it was Naruto's turn to stare as he looked at the large ball of sand hovering a few feet above the ground. He could hear a few muffled noises coming from inside some sounding more profane than others, and was about to ask about it when-

"CHIDORI!" –a hand burst through the tough sand wall, but only a hand. Naruto immediately noticed that it was a mottled grey colour with sharpened white fingernails like miniature claws. Gaara just twitched the corner of his mouth in annoyance before he made a flicking gesture with his fingers. The sand around the protruding arm tightened uncomfortably and then shifted until everybody heard a sickening crack letting them know the arm was broken.

Gaara finally let up on the painful torture and the strange arm slithered back inside the sphere while Gaara proceeded to close up the small hole that remained behind. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the whole affair but said nothing, feeling the Uchiha got exactly what he deserved if he had anything to do with Tayuya's kidnapping. The three Suna nin and their captive started moving out of the clearing until Tayuya finally noticed the proverbial elephant in the room.

"Woh, what's with the fucking pyramid?"

* * *

They retraced their path through the forest until they came across an area practically covered in strange yellow kunai along with dead spiders that the motionless body of Kidomarou. It didn't take much looking around to find Neji being tended to by Lee with his somewhat limited first aid knowledge. Upon seeing how injured the Hyuuga was Naruto felt a pang of guilt at leaving him behind like he had.

He steeled himself though, he knew what he was doing when he volunteered plus the objective was ultimately fulfilled. All they could hope now was that he could get some proper help back at the village or earlier if they were lucky and the medic shinobi were already on their way. Naruto helped Lee carry Neji as delicately as they could which proved to be difficult considering the slightest nudges would earn groans of pain from the unconscious Byakugan wielder.

They all moved past where Lee had fought Jirobo, all of them marvelling at the incredible crater in the makeshift clearing. It made them look twice at Lee, wondering what he had done exactly but soon the monotony of slow travel returned the group to their own quiet reflection. Sasuke wouldn't stop moaning from inside his temporary prison even though every time he did Gaara would constrict the sphere just a little.

They all breathed a small sigh of relief when they all heard the noises and moaning stop, assuming the Uchiha had fallen unconscious from lack of oxygen. Gaara added a few air holes to the sphere and they continued walking. Lee and Naruto could have cried out in joy when they finally reached the area where Kiba fought Hibiki to see various ANBU and medic nin swarming the place. The group was immediately spotted and Neji was carried away on a stretcher to be properly treated. ANBU agents quickly surrounded them, noting the sand sphere and their appearance.

"Was the mission successful?" It was a bird-masked ANBU who asked and Naruto quickly nodded while Gaara dumped Sasuke onto the ground. Everybody noticed that his seal had returned to normal, at least indicating that he was in fact unconscious. The ANBU nodded his approval before motioning for one of the other agents. The latest ANBU walked over and performed a few hand seals, startling everybody as wood erupted from the ground and promptly wrapped Sasuke up.

"What's going to happen to him now?" The first ANBU turned to Naruto, looking at him in obvious curiosity despite the mask concealing his features. He simply looked at Sasuke being hauled onto a different operative's shoulder and back at Naruto before walking off. He obviously didn't feel obligated to answer any questions unless they were important to their own mission. Naruto just sighed, that kind of reaction couldn't have meant anything good but he smiled safe in the knowledge that he got Tayuya back.

The four still conscious ninja ducked into a nearby medical tent that had been set up, walking over to where Kiba lay stretched out on a portable stretcher. There was a doctor hovering around, checking a chart every so often; he looked at them curiously before his gaze flickered between them and Kiba.

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about, merely a mild case of aggravated chakra exhaustion." Naruto and Lee furrowed their brows at this, they had never heard of that condition.

"What do you mean aggravated?" The doctor just chuckled.

"Don't worry, the word makes it sound worse than it is, it just happens after people like the Inuzuka take a soldier pill and use all of their chakra up. Really there's nothing to worry about, I'm sure a boy like him has gone through it a few times in their training." The four ninja nodded but right now they were all staring at the other beds set up around the tent, longingly staring at them. Each was tired in their own right and right now sleep seemed like the best possible option. Unfortunately that was also denied to them as another ANBU operative lifted the tent flap.

"You four need to deliver your report to the Hokage as soon as possible." The exhausted shinobi just nodded wearily before following the masked ninja out of the medical tent. Most of them looked like they barely want to walk let alone run but they were used to pushing their bodies to the limit and were soon hopping through the trees in the direction of the village.

* * *

"...and once Gaara disabled Sasuke we returned through the areas we fought the enemy in, picking up our teammates before arriving at the medics and ANBU. One of the ANBU used wood-" Tsunade waved him off with her hand, looking slightly tired herself, although Naruto couldn't blame her considering it was about three in the morning.

"Yes yes I know the details after that." She sighed deeply, wishing she had some sake with her right now to calm her nerves. She leaned back in her large chair and turned her head slightly to look out the large panoramic window that had a view of the entire village. "Alright, well mission success, you'll all want to go get some sleep I guess so dismissed." The assembled chuunin all nodded their thanks before retiring from the room.

Lee bid them goodnight as they exited the Hokage tower before sprinting off in the direction of the training grounds making the other three wonder where he got the energy. The Suna chuunin made their way towards Anko's apartment complex in a more peaceful manner, slowly walking there in silence. It was more peaceful than awkward, all of them too tired to try and strike up a conversation. They made it back in short time and quietly snuck in so they wouldn't wake Anko if she was in.

Gaara wished them a good night with a yawn before they all went to their respective rooms. Tayuya was about to get into bed before Naruto put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him curiously, wondering what he wanted considering they were both shattered.

"Tayuya I know you're tired but do you think we could..." He smiled weakly, "...do _that _again?" He motioned with his eyes until Tayuya got the picture making her blush a little but she nodded slowly, her own smile on her face. She had to muffle the squeak of surprise when a happy and suddenly energetic Naruto tackled her onto the soft bed, already pressing his lips against her, waiting for her to return the gesture which she gladly did.

Neither of them noticed the small video camera in the corner of the room with a small red light blinking occasionally. In her room Anko watched the monitor with a broad but slightly perverted smile. _'Am I a genius or am I a genius? I can't wait to show Hana!'_

* * *

When Tayuya, Gaara, and Naruto walked into the Hokage's office it looked like Tsunade hadn't moved at all since last night and strangely the stack of paperwork seemed even larger. Right now she was peacefully dozing with her head on the desk, a small strand of drool leaking out the corner of her mouth to slowly pool atop some document or another. Naruto leaned a bit closer to Tayuya and whispered out the corner of his mouth.

"Why doesn't she just use clones to do the paperwork?" Tayuya just shrugged and whispered back.

"She's the Hokage, I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually." Naruto just shrugged and nodded, hell if he could work it out then Tsunade should be able to. Finally the woman seemed to stir at their whisperings, bringing her head off the table bringing a sheet of paper with her as it stuck to her face. That earned a small round of snickers from the chuunin before Tsunade's eye's focused and they became more serious.

"What? You three are back already? You can't possibly want another mission so soon." Naruto shook his head uncertainly; he wasn't sure how to go about saying this.

"Um actually the repairs to Konoha are finished. We thought it was probably best if we went back to Suna now." That seemed to wake Tsunade right up as she sat bolt upright in her chair. After everything that had happened it had nearly slipped her mind that these three weren't in fact Leaf shinobi. That should have been fairly obvious from Gaara's forehead protector but Tsunade had a tendency to overlook what she wanted to avoid, debt collectors and paperwork for instance.

"Oh that's right, well I suppose your service to Konoha has ended." She seemed troubled by this, especially by Naruto leaving, he was the reason she became Hokage in the first place. In her mind she had imagined someday handing him the hat and robes while she looked on in pride. That image slowly crumbled in front of her as a harsh reality hit home. Naruto seemed to notice this and tried to cheer the woman up a little.

"Hey don't worry about it, you know we'll come visit." He grinned broadly and Tsunade couldn't help but join him.

"Well if that's everything..." She trailed off, really hoping that one of the three would correct her; tell her there was something else they needed but sadly they all just gave a curt nod. Tsunade sighed, turning on the swivel chair to stand up and walk over to the three.

"Okay then, gather the supplies you need and you can fill out the appropriate paperwork with Izumo and Kotetsu at the gate." She paused, the smallest smirks appearing on her face before she wrapped all three of them in a death-hug that was actually enough cause for concern that Gaara's sand defence sprang up, pushing Tsunade back while he panted for air. "Stay out of trouble." She received some hasty nods so she wouldn't attempt another hug. Tsunade turned to Tayuya next and smiled knowingly as she glanced between her and Naruto; Anko was rather indiscriminate when it came to gossip.

"Keep him out of trouble Tayuya." The redhead nodded slowly, wondering why she was singled out but soon they were on their way out of the office and back into the streets. They spent the rest of their time saying their goodbyes to the people they had met and come to be friendly with, even visiting Kiba and Neji in the hospital despite Naruto's hated for the establishments. They all swung by the Inuzuka compound and bid farewell to Tsume and Hana, both of whom seemed genuinely sad the trio were leaving.

Finally they made it to the gate where they saw Anko waiting for them, obviously taking the free time to scare the daylights out of Izumo and Kotetsu if their faces were anything to go on. They approached and Anko spotted to them, waving in an overly enthusiastic manner that made the gate guards sweat-drop in embarrassment. When they had first told the purple-haired kunoichi they were leaving she had pouted and complained saying they were just starting to have fun but eventually she came around after a not-so-small bribe of dango.

"Hey gaki, I guess I'll be seeing you then?" The three nodded a little sadly; Anko may have been crazy and a complete slave-driver but she and Hana were fun to be around. She just shrugged, flicking a dango stick out of nowhere and picking her teeth with it. Naruto smirked at the action; it was just everything that embodied Anko.

"At least when I next see you I'll be able to beat you Anko-sensei." The taller woman just laughed and ruffled Naruto's spiky hair much to his annoyance.

"Yeah sure you will Gaki, and Jiraiya will stop being a pervert." She said it jovially but in her mind she already knew that if he used his Hiraishin on her then he would probably be able to beat her as they were now. Of course he didn't need to know that little titbit of information so Anko kept her lips sealed. Widening her eyes like she forgot something she smirked and pulled out a camera while the chuunin looked at her curiously.

"Anko-sensei, what's that for?" She just chuckled and tossed the camera to Izumo who looked at it blankly.

"You guys were my first team so I wanted a photo of us all." Naruto looked around the gates.

"Shouldn't Hana be here as well then?" Anko pouted with her arms crossed under her chest in a way that would hypnotise most men.

"Oh please, I was the real sensei. She was just the helper." Naruto smiled as Anko walked right into his trap.

"Oh is that right Anko?" The aforementioned kunoichi turned around very slowly to see Hana behind her with a swirling vortex of darkness around her looking positively murderous.

"What! No, of course not. You know me Hana, just joking." She said it with a smile but everybody noticed the bead of sweat roll down her cheek; of course Naruto, Izumo, and Kotetsu were the only ones who followed it down further. Anko decided to divert the attention off of her. "Well anyway, now that we're all here we can really take the photo." She laughed nervously while Hana calmed down and soon they were all grouped together with the two sensei at the back and the chuunin at the front with Naruto in the middle.

Hana and Anko had to leave after that but not before the three of them got their copies of the photo, each carefully putting it in their packs. They signed the correct paperwork that allowed them to leave he village and soon they were on the road out of Konoha. It felt good for all three of them to finally go home after so long away.

* * *

Normally it would take a shinobi three days to reach Sunagakure from Konoha but the trio were in no rush and made it in just fewer than four, which was still decent. The endless deserts were a comforting sight for them all as they approached the massive entrance to the village. The guards only briefly looked over their paperwork, everybody recognised them by now. They all seemed to be acting strangely around Gaara though, well stranger than normal. Surprisingly the first person they saw when they walked through the village gates was Baki and they all smiled happily while Naruto rushed forward.

"Baki-sensei!" The grizzled veteran smiled pleasantly at his students after not seeing them for such a length of time. "Heh, I bet the village has been pretty quiet without us around." He said it jokingly but Baki actually nodded his head, looking dreamily off into the distance while Naruto developed a small tick over his eye. "Hey, that's not funny sensei!" The older man begged to differ and chuckled to prove it, although the laughter died down when Baki addressed Gaara.

"Gaara, there is something we must discuss but I fell it would be better if we went to the council-" Naruto stopped paying attention turning around to see two more familiar faces approaching. He waved over to Kankuro and Temari and while the other blonde waved back the puppeteer in training jogged over to his brother, interrupting his conversation with Baki.

"Hey little bro, or should I say Kazekage-same?" Tayuya, Naruto, and Gaara all widened their eyes considerably while the former two stared at the Ichibi container with shock.

"What?!"


	31. Chapter 31

Naruto and Tayuya stood, or rather sat, outside of the council chambers in heated expectation. If it wasn't for the privacy seal placed on the room they would have been both pressed right up against the door for anything they might hear regarding their friend. The news had hit them all unexpectedly and at first Naruto had thought Kankuro had been joking; it turned out he wasn't. The council were explaining the situation to Gaara and the two outside couldn't wait to hear what was going on.

If it was all true then Gaara would become the youngest Kazekage and youngest kage ever, it was an amazing achievement. Naruto knew he deserved it, nobody loved the Sand Village like his friend did and he would probably protect it with his life. He also knew that Gaara had the potential to become one of the greatest shinobi of their time. His control with sand was increasing every day and he was just beginning to properly learn Magnet Release like his father and the Third Kazekage before him.

Finally a slightly paler than usual Gaara exited the chamber, turning to his friends with an obviously startled expression. They stood up from where they had been sat against the walls of the corridor and walked over. Gaara seemed a little shell-shocked by the experience; he had aimed for Kazekage for a while now but he hadn't expected it so soon, and not because of the death of his father.

"So what did they say?" It was Naruto who spoke, placing a hand on his shocked friend's shoulder.

"We should talk in my office." Even Gaara sounded incredulous when he said it, not quite believing his own words were true and this wasn't all a dream. They walked through the halls of the Kazekage Tower and out of respect for Gaara stayed quiet until they reached his new office. Gaara walked in first and quickly moved across the room to sit at the large desk that took up most of that side of the room. He sat down, looking a little swamped in the large chair, like a child wearing their father's clothing which, when he put on the Kazekage robes, he would be.

"This is awesome Gaara. You're Kazekage now." His friend just nodded mutely, staring into the desk and the small pile of paperwork that sat to the side.

"So what's your first decree going to be?" Gaara smirked a little at Tayuya's joke but silence still hung heavy in the room.

"Come on Gaara, you have to talk eventually." Gaara finally looked up, looking at his two closest and oldest friends who were sitting in the chairs across from him.

"I don't deserve it." Both his friends just looked at the redhead in shock, not quite believing what they were hearing.

"What do you mean Gaara? You have to be joking right!" Naruto stood up from his chair and slammed his hands down on the desk with quite a bit of force. "Nobody _but_ you deserves this!" Gaara looked at his friend with a bit of shock for the outburst but still didn't look any more convinced. "Gaara, you would protect this village with your life wouldn't you?" He nodded slowly. "Despite the fact they made you suffer by placing a biju in you without your permission?" Again another nod came from the young kage.

"Then you're fucking perfect for the job." Naruto seemed a little annoyed Tayuya had cut in on his rant but he nodded enthusiastically anyway because it was essential the point he was trying to drive home.

"Come on Gaara, you're level headed, you're strong, and you control sand for Kami's sake. Something you have no shortage of here. Who's better for becoming Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand?" Naruto narrowed his eyes when it looked like Gaara was about to try and reply. "You'll have the council for support and advice and you know we'll always be here to help you out." Naruto smiled a little at that "You'll do an amazing job Gaara, trust us." Tayuya nodded along with the sentiment.

Gaara sat back in the chair, his hair falling away from his eyes to show him looking incredibly thoughtful. He looked nervous but at least now he was thinking about this properly without as many doubts.

"Thank you Naruto, Tayuya." He leaned back forward on his chair, his hands forming a steeple on the desk in front of him as he stared at the wood. "I need some time to think about this." Naruto and Tayuya both nodded curtly before standing up and walking towards the door. Before he left though Naruto had one last thing to say.

"Gaara, if you did this, it wouldn't just be for Suna, it would be for every jinchuuriki out there. You could show them that there is hope, that they can be loved and respected as well." Gaara seemed a little taken by the heartfelt statement before Naruto followed Tayuya out of the door, leaving the Kazekage to be alone to think. He sighed as he leaned back on the chair, turning as he did so to look out over the village through the window.

All those lives going about their daily business; civilian, shinobi and kunoichi alike, they would all be under his protection, his guidance. It was such an enormous burden to bear for one so young and Gaara could feel that pressing down on his shoulders. But then he wouldn't have to bear it alone, he would have his friends, he would have the council and he would have Baki and his siblings. The knot in his chest seemed to loosen a bit as he stood up and looked out of the window at the village, his village.

* * *

Both Tayuya and Naruto were worried for their friend; despite their encouraging words and help they knew that accepting the job would be a burden. It was a burden they all were fully prepared to shoulder together, they would never abandon their friend like that. Even so they couldn't help smile, Gaara would become famous as the youngest kage ever, the manipulator of deserts. They walked through the village just contemplating that, taking in the sights they had missed these last few months.

Nothing had really changed in the Sand Village, people still went about their lives, shinobi still trained and shopkeepers still flogged their food and wares. It was all so familiar to them now and it was comforting at the same time. Tayuya had never truly called any place her home but the Sand Village certainly came close. It was filled with the people she cared about and, looking at Naruto, it was filled with people who cared about her. The redhead quickly grew a smirk as she looked at her boyfriend, too lost in his thoughts to notice.

"Come on, let's hit the training grounds." Naruto looked around, snapped out of his thoughts quite suddenly.

"What? Already? We only just got back." Tayuya's smirk grew and she started to pull on Naruto's arm in the direction of their favourite training ground.

"Huh, I don't think I've ever seen you refuse a chance to train Shithead." Naruto just smiled sheepishly, that was actually probably true, except after the Third's death. "Anyway, you know I want to come up with a counter for your Hiraishin." Naruto laughed at that, ever since he had completed his technique Tayuya had been wracking her brain to come up with an effective counter. He wasn't sure why she thought she could, if the entire nation of Iwagakure couldn't then she had little chance.

Even so he had explained everything of how the technique worked and answered her every question. It was a win/win for Naruto either way; he either found there was no counter for his technique which was good for him or he learnt what the counter was and could prepare for it if it was ever used against him. So far Tayuya hadn't found anything; there was of course the fact that it actually required the kunai and seals to be placed somewhere but Naruto could travel to a moving kunai and he always had spares in his seals.

It always surprised his opponent when he did that, throwing a kunai behind them only to appear just as it was going past them. He had heard that the fourth did something similar during the Third Shinobi War. As much as Naruto idolised and respected the man he didn't want to merely copy the technique, he wanted some way of improving it. He needed something that made it unique as opposed to just a copy of a legendary jutsu.

"Hey, you know I never named the technique." Tayuya stopped pulling at his arm and looked at him strangely.

"What are you talking about; it's called the Hiraishin right?" Naruto shook his head, his mouth shifting to one side as he gave it some thought.

"Well technically it isn't the Hiraishin, it might do the same thing but it isn't the same technique" Tayuya's face smirked as she realised Naruto was right before her eyes lit up.

"Are you kidding me? We get to name a brand new technique? That's fucking awesome!" Naruto smiled and nodded as the two retuned to walking towards the training ground, now both in deep thought. "How about the Raijin no Suteppu?" Naruto considered the name but found that 'step' didn't quite accurately portray what he was doing and shook his head.

"How about Kukan Tenso?" Tayuya thought about the name, it definitely sounded cool but Naruto could only transport himself and things he carried with it so it still didn't seem right.

"Sukuroruhoppu o shiru?" Naruto chuckled.

"It's a little bit of a tongue twister don't you think?" Tayuya frowned but nodded anyway, going back to her thoughts. A large smile grew across Naruto's face as the perfect name suddenly came to mind and he nudged Tayuya so she would look at him. "What about the Fujin no Iki?" Tayuya thought about it and her own smile grew across her features.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome. 'Wind God's Breath'. It's got a nice ring to it and it kind of emulates the Hiraishin's name." Naruto nodded, happy that Tayuya agreed with him, she was a little downhearted because she hadn't been the one to think of it but happy that Naruto's technique was now truly his own.

"We'll tell Gaara when he has some time, see what he thinks of it." He looked around to try and see where they were, the two had been so in thought they hadn't noticed where they were going. To his surprise they had actually reached the training ground without noticing. He smiled warmly at the sight; the training ground was near a large pillar of rock that jutted out of the desert like, as Tayuya liked to put it, a massive middle-finger to Kami.

Off to one side there was a peaceful and perfectly clear oasis surrounded by some thick grass and shrubberies as well as a few palm trees. It was like a small tropical island, just without the ocean surrounding it. Naruto grinned and unsealed one of his special kunai, throwing over to Tayuya who caught it on reflex.

"Hold this for a second. Before we train I just want to test a theory I had." Tayuya nodded and seemed interested, usually when Naruto had a 'theory' something ended up getting blown up. She grimaced as she remembered Naruto first experimenting with transporting things other than himself with the Fujin no Iki, the poor cat would never be the same. She watched as Naruto ran at the small oasis, thinking he was just going to run on its surface.

She surprised him when he simply dived straight into the water, not even bothering to remove his clothes. He re-emerged from the cold waters with a laugh, looking at Tayuya's confused face with a knowing smirk.

"Just hold onto that kunai okay!" Tayuya just frowned and nodded, she was doing it wasn't she? Suddenly Tayuya felt strange like electricity was travelling across her skin. She nearly dropped the kunai from shock but before she could her vision went fuzzy and she was instantly drenched. Anybody watching her would have seen her simply disappear from her position on the side of the oasis and suddenly reappear under water.

Tayuya's eyes went wide as she nearly breathed in water, thrashing around in shock and panic until a strong hand found her own and pulled her to the surface. Naruto watched in worry as Tayuya coughed loudly on the bank of the small pond, retching up the water she had accidently inhaled. He had meant it as a joke; he didn't mean for her to nearly drown. Truly he had simply wanted to see if he could make the connection with the seals two-way and transport things marked with the seal to him. He guessed on that account it was a success but he made a note not to try it around water until he got a few bugs tweaked.

"What the fucking hell..." Tayuya had to stop to cough up more water "...was that!?" Naruto only looked away apologetically, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly.

"Sorry, I didn't expect you to appear underwater." Tayuya scowled at him, having already worked out that she had just travelled via the Fuijin no iki somehow only to end up under the water.

"Did you just test out something experimental on me?" Naruto's eyes opened wide and he waved out his arms in front of him in a manner he hoped way placating.

"What! No! I've done it before and it's perfectly safe I promise! It was just supposed to be a joke!" Tayuya would have hit him but she was too busy coughing up her lungs on the bank. Naruto stood over her, slowly dripping onto the sand beneath him as he waited for her to finish. Finally the worst seemed behind her and she stood up a little shakily, looking down at herself in annoyance.

"Great, now my fucking clothes are soaked." Naruto, hoping to make it up to her, smiled brightly and grabbed the kunai out of her hand, throwing it away from him so it hit the large pillar of rock. He rushed towards Tayuya who didn't have time to react before Naruto scooped her up in his arms. "Hey Shithead what the fuck are you-" As she spoke she felt that familiar prickling across her skin.

"-doing!" Tayuya opened her eyes after clamping them closed, not wanting another off Naruto's pranks. He carefully set her down and she realised that he had moved them to his kunai at the pillar. "What the fuck was that for you moron!" Naruto just rubbed the back of his head and pointed at Tayuya's stomach, at least that was what she thought he was pointing at. She looked down, worrying that he might have left a part of her behind or something like that, only to see everything was normal.

She moved to punch him for being an idiot but realised when she moved her arm that her clothes weren't clinging to her. She looked down again and realised her clothes were now perfectly dry, her hair was still somewhat damp but it was better than being drenched. She looked at Naruto who had looked away, his eyes closed in expectance of the punch that didn't come.

"How did you do that?" he cracked his eyes open and smiled once he saw Tayuya wasn't beating the crap out of him.

"Um, I have to focus on what I bring through the seal with me. I just left the water behind when we moved." Sure enough Tayuya looked over to where they had been and saw two rather large puddles slowly soaking into the sand.

"Wow, I didn't realise you could pick and choose what you brought through with you." Naruto chuckled nervously and returned to rubbing his head.

"Uhh, yeah, neither did I." Tayuya chuckled before she realised what he had just said.

"STOP EXPERIMENTING ON ME!" For emphasis she threw in a punch to the head to punctuate each word. A very dazed and slightly scared Naruto just nodded hurriedly, he didn't think it would help right now if he added in he had technically experimented on himself as well. Tayuya huffed and crossed her arms under her chest, suddenly having lost interest in training. She smirked and eyes Naruto's still sheepish expression.

"So what are you going to do to make it up to me Naruto?" Naruto recognised the tone in her voice; she had used it a few times on their journey from Konoha. Tayuya's eyes went wide as Naruto practically pounced on her, bringing his arms around her back to support her as he pressed his lips against her heatedly. After a moment of shock at the speed of it all Tayuya relaxed and leaned into the kiss herself.

She questioningly licked along Naruto's upper lip, to which he immediately allowed her entry, letting their tongues battle it out as their breathing became more ragged. Tayuya felt her legs weaken and soon she was only staying up because of the support Naruto provided. She moaned into the kiss making Naruto smile before his hand started to travel down from her back. He placed one hand on her ass which was quickly followed by the other and he used that as leverage to lift Tayuya up.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, content to let him carry her as they continued their hungry kiss. It was enough to say that the both of them had quickly found out they greatly enjoyed kissing one another and made it their goal to do it as much as possible. Tayuya momentarily broke for air but she leapt right back in as soon as both took a good breath. One of Naruto's hands broke away from its place on her soft cheek and started rubbing her back slowly, eliciting another moan from the excited redhead.

Eventually the two tired each other out and sat back against the pillar next to one another, panting after their small tongue war. Tayuya leaned in closer, placing her head on Naruto's shoulder as they looked out at the training ground. She enjoyed the way the harsh desert sun glittered off of the still waters of the lake making the surface shine like it was composed of diamonds instead of water. Naruto's gaze was more transfixed on the beauty next to him, just eying her slightly damp hair and small smile. He loved it when Tayuya smiled, it was another reason he enjoyed their kisses so much.

"So... training?" Tayuya burst out laughing at the absurdity of Naruto's remark, playfully slapping his shoulder as she chuckled.

"Right, training."

* * *

Both Naruto and Tayuya were woken early in the morning, much to Tayuya's grumbling displeasure, by an ANBU operative. The weird thing was he told them they had been summoned by the Kazekage. Naruto grinned widely when he realised that meant Gaara had taken the position; he hadn't come back last night and both of them were worried. At least now they knew that he had taken the position which meant their words had helped, that even got Tayuya smiling.

They hurried through the village, friend or not you weren't late when summoned by the Kazekage. After a quick sprint they both appeared outside of his office, the receptionist only briefly glancing upward at them. They tentatively opened the door, not sure what they expected to find behind it. It was actually rather anticlimactic, just Gaara sitting at the desk looking over a small pile of paperwork that had accumulated since he accepted the position.

"Gaara?" The redhead behind the desk just shook his head, confusing the two new entrees.

"Hello Naruto, Tayuya." They were slightly surprised when the voice came from their left and looked around to see another Gaara standing by a window, obviously having been looking out when they came in. The sand-wielder just chuckled at their startled faces as they looked between him and the clone. "What? You expect me to be around Naruto for seven years and not pick up a few things?" Naruto just smiled at Gaara using an A-rank jutsu just to do some paperwork while Gaara grimaced to himself.

"Although I have begun to realise why Naruto became so irritable after shadow clone training, that information influx is quite tiresome." Naruto just nodded, rubbing his head without even meaning to as he thought about it; he quickly perked up though.

"So you decided to take the job." Gaara nodded with a small smile, turning his neck to look out over the village again. Out of all of them Gaara had been the most homesick during their stay in Konoha.

"So how does it feel to be called Kazekage-sama?" Gaara's small smile turned into a fleeting frown as he turned back.

"Almost as tiring as this endless paperwork, I don't understand how the Hokage managed it without shadow clones." They all shared a laugh even though the actual answer was known to them: she drank. Naruto straightened up a bit when he remembered why they were here in the first place.

"So why did you summon us Lord Kazekage?" He said it jokingly but it earned another frown from the young redhead.

"Please, don't call me that, it just doesn't sound right coming from you." Naruto chuckled but nodded anyway.

"So why _did_ you call us here?" Gaara smiled at Tayuya and walked over to the desk, letting the shadow clone disperse before he sat down in the chair. His eyes narrowed for a fleeting second before his body relaxed into the chair, the information he got in those sudden bursts was unpleasant, but endurable.

"Well for one I wanted to see my friends." That earned a small grin from them both "But more importantly, now that I'm Kazekage I have certain privileges. The first thing I'm doing is putting you both on an A-ranked mission." The two teenagers stared at their friend incredulously, Naruto actually put a finger in his ear and wiggled it to see if he was hearing right.

"An A-ranked mission? We just got back to the village!" Gaara leaned forward on the desk and steepled his fingers together.

"Let me finish, I was thinking about our encounters with Itachi, Kisame, and Orochimaru and it comes to my attention that none of us are powerful enough to fight against them and even have a hope of winning." A little bit of Naruto's ego deflated but he saw Gaara's point. "As Kazekage even more information about Akatsuki has come to my attention and it has worried me. Every known member of the organisation is a well know S-class missing-nin." Naruto narrowed his eyes, the information was shocking but expected based on what he had seen.

"That is why I am sending Naruto on a training trip to enhance his skills in preparation." He let the comment sink in for both of his friends before Naruto's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean sending? Where am I going?" Tayuya also seemed to have question but in an impressive show of patience she allowed Gaara to answer Naruto.

"That would be up to you, you must find places and people that are willing to train you. I have a few suggestions but that can wait for later." He could see Naruto was still questioning him and he sighed "Naruto it is best if you do not stay here in the village. There is no telling when Akatsuki will make their move but our spy network places their best estimates at two to three years. You will have that time to travel the elemental nations and hone your skills, it is imperative that you improve so that Akatsuki can't use you for their goals." He leaned back in the chair allowing Naruto to absorb the information as he turned to Tayuya.

"You said you were sending Naruto on a training trip, what about me?" Gaara sighed and took a moment to think, this certainly wouldn't be easy.

"Tayuya, I am not sending you with Naruto because I have a different mission for you." Naruto looked up at this, listening more closely. "I want you to infiltrate the Akatsuki." Silence rained over the large office as both teenagers stared at their Kazekage in shock.

"WHAT!?" Gaara flinched at their joint assault on his ears.

"Are you crazy Gaara? Why would you ask Tayuya to do that?" Tayuya had been about to angrily shout out essentially the same thing but she turned to Naruto with a blank expression.

"What, you don't think I could do it?" Naruto just stared at her in shock, wondering what the hell she meant by that.

"Of course not Tayuya but that would put you in danger. You would be close to the people who are trying to kidnap me and Gaara!" Tayuya stared at him angrily and Naruto shrank in his chair slightly.

"So now I can't take care of myself is that right?" Naruto just looked at her with his mouth open, unable to speak from the shock. Tayuya's eye was twitching as she turned back around to Gaara. "I'll do it." Gaara sighed again and spared a glance between her and Naruto.

"Tayuya please don't be hasty about this. Naruto is right and you will be placing yourself in a great deal of danger. If you want to do this merely to prove Naruto wrong then I will withdraw the assignment from you." Tayuya narrowed her eyes at him but Gaara remained impassive, if slightly weary.

"I said I would take the mission." Gaara lowered his head a little but nodded all the same.

"Very well, I will give you more details on the mission later. In short we have found a way into one of the Sasori of the Red Sand's spy network, he is a current member. From there you can infiltrate the organisation and find away to actually breach Akatsuki itself. You too will have to train harder if you hope to actually become one." He leaned back and opened a drawer in his desk, withdrawing a folder with care and set it on the desk.

"You will approach them with this, it is the current defence strategy of the village as well as a few A-rank but not too dangerous jutsus from the Kazekage vault." Both teens stared at him a little strangely. "It is an offering to gain their good graces, don't worry about the defence plans, we will be updating them shortly anyway." They both nodded at this, it sounded like a good idea. "Like I said we can go over the finer details later." Tayuya nodded and leaned back in her own chair, suddenly having a lot to think about.

"Naruto, I mentioned earlier I had suggestions for your training trip." Naruto turned back to his friend-turned-Kage. "The first place I would recommend you go to is Kumogakure."

"Why?" Gaara frowned at being interrupted but carried on anyway.

"Firstly I have a letter I would like to you to deliver to the Raikage that I would rather not send by messenger hawk, I will be asking for an alliance between our nations." Both Tayuya and Naruto raised their eyebrows at what should have been top-secret information. "I am also asking him for advice on a few matters, as a new and young kage it would benefit me to hear the wisdom of others. Tsunade is a new kage herself and the Mizukage is currently in the midst of a civil war. As for the Tsuchikage, well I don't believe he and Suna will have an alliance as long as we are allies of Konoha." Tayuya frowned from her seat.

"Kumo don't exactly like Konoha either." Gaara nodded with another sigh.

"I know, but to a lesser degree. Now that both Suna and Konoha have new leaders I hope the Raikage can't see past his prejudices regarding Konoha. Anyway, back to the point, the second reason I would send you to Kumo, and perhaps most importantly is the fact they currently have two jinchuuriki. I want you to warn them of the threat, along with any other of our kind you come across." Naruto nodded, he saw the importance of this as well.

"Perhaps more interestingly, the two are reported to have somehow gained full control of their biju. If you can, learn how and possibly better use that knowledge for yourself." Again Naruto nodded but this time with a smile, getting control of Kyuubi's chakra faster would be a great help against Akatsuki and Orochimaru. "Lastly Kumo is well-known for their lighting-users, you can finally train your other affinity properly." Naruto's smile grew into a grin, he had wanted to learn lightning jutsu for a long time but they were more than scarce in Wind Country.

"Is there anything else?" Gaara nodded while Naruto struggling to keep up with all of this information.

"Other things have come to my attention as Kazekage. I now have a list of the general location of all the jinchuuriki of the Elemental Nations." That stopped Naruto dead cold. "Two currently reside in Earth Country, two more in Lighting, two others in Water and lastly there is one jinchuuriki reportedly living in Takigakure in the Land of Valleys." Naruto nodded along, not quite sure where Gaara was going with this.

"I would like you to try and find the jinchuuriki from Taki; they are more than likely alone so I would like you to, in essence, check on them. If you deem it necessary I want you to offer her sanctuary in Suna however know that Taki will not be happy if they find out you are doing so." Naruto nodded one last time, more solemnly than the rest and Gaara finally leaned back in the chair leaving the two to think about what he had said.

"Lastly, and this is more advice than an order, do not go to Earth Country." Naruto looked up from thought with a frown.

"Is it really that bad?" Gaara just nodded.

"You experienced the prejudice of Iwa nin first hand with that old man; you bear far too much resemblance to the Fourth Hokage for Earth Country to be safe for you." Naruto sighed in his chair; it really didn't feel fair that an entire country was essentially off limits for him just because he looked like somebody else.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Gaara nodded and looked over at Tayuya who was still thinking.

"Don't worry about it too much Tayuya; you won't be going on these missions until after my coronation." She nodded absently and he took that to mean she had understood. "Again, this is more a recommendation than anything else but I urge both of you to not return to the village for at least two years." Both teens shot out of their chairs with the same anger that had started this whole conversation.

"TWO YEARS?!" Once again Gaara had to wince from the combined shout.

"Yes, two years. For all we are aware the Akatsuki is monitoring the village as we speak. If you come back you will be in danger. This gives us enough time to plan out the next step." Gaara expected Naruto to be very opposed to this idea but he just stood back, grinning eagerly.

"Then you know I'm coming back in exactly two years!" Tayuya on the other hand didn't seem nearly as ecstatic; Gaara had just told her she wouldn't get to see him or Naruto, her boyfriend, for two whole years.

"So we need to find a way to stay in touch?" Gaara nodded again as the two settled back into their chairs.

"Yes, we are currently working on that and have a few... ideas for Tayuya." She looked up from thought, intrigued but Gaara didn't continue. "Like I said we won't be doing this for a few days so you have time to pack, prepare and say your goodbyes before you leave." Naruto looked like he wanted to say something more but at that point the secretary popped her head around the door.

"Kazekage-sama, the council wishes to speak to you regarding your proposed change to the shinobi academy." Gaara nodded to her with a small smile before standing up from the desk with Tayuya and Naruto following suit.

"Thank you Naruto, Tayuya. We'll speak more about this back at the mansion, until then I suggest you start preparing to leave." Both nodded with small frowns, both deep in thought about the next few years to come in slightly different ways.

'_I'm going to become as strong as I can to protect Tayuya and Gaara, just you wait!'_

'_I won't get to see Naruto for two years? Well at least I'm going to be training as well. I'm not letting him overtake me!'_


	32. Chapter 32

Naruto looked out over the sprawling desert that stretched out endlessly in every direction. After so long as a shinobi such a sight was no longer as intimidating as it had been when he first set eyes on it. He knew how to survive even in the harshest of conditions, how to find water, what you could and couldn't eat. He actually had a smile on his face as he walked calmly through the shifting sand beneath his feet.

His instincts told him he should have been unhappy; he had only been in Sunagakure for three days before he had to leave again, for two years no less. He wouldn't be able to see his friends or girlfriend in all that time and they could only communicate scarcely. Even so, the young blonde felt exhilarated; this was the first time he had been truly on his own for seven years, he could literally do whatever he wanted.

To punctuate that fact Naruto just randomly did a flip through the air, landing with vulpine grace on the unsteady sand. He laughed to himself, a blonde madman laughing as he strolled casually through an impenetrable desert, only a map in his hand and the clothes on his back, as well as the fifty or so storage seals dotted around his body out of sight. He sighed to himself as he picked up the pace, eager to get out of the desert as soon as he could.

He was only slightly sad because Tayuya had to set out on her own mission before he left, only having a limited window of opportunity to infiltrate Sasori's network. He had bid her farewell from the gate and she had returned the favour, with gusto as Naruto recalled, licking his lips with a smirk. Of course that meant she couldn't be there to see him off on his own adventure but at least Gaara and Baki-sensei had been there, offering him words of encouragement and advice.

Of course Baki was only there to tell him not to do anything that would make Suna look bad but Naruto caught the sentiment behind the words anyway. Nobody could say he didn't appreciate what the veteran had taught him over the years, even if his methods were questionable at best. Him and Anko were similar in that regard, both eccentric and slightly sadistic but both having his best interests at heart. He wondered if he just had a tendency to attract the stranger teachers; he chuckled figuring he would know that once he found a sensei for his lightning affinity.

He pulled open the detailed map and quickly located his position based off of the position of the sun and local landmarks like noticeable rock formations. Naruto knew if he was captured this would be the first thing he destroyed or sealed, it contained far too much information about the deserts of wind country to get into enemy hands. To be honest Naruto was surprised Gaara trusted him with it, he knew the Suna desert like the back of his hand but he had never been to the Land of Valleys before, his first destination.

* * *

Nearly a day of almost non-stop sprinting and tree-hopping later and Naruto finally reached the border of the Land of Valleys. He was forced to skim the borders of Rain Country and River Country before cutting through the north-west of Fire Country before finally reaching the border. He had to be rather careful now, while the Land of Valleys held no alliances with other nations it bordered Earth Country and their patrols were know to 'stray' from the country's boundaries.

Naruto had once wondered what it would be like to henge into the Fourth Hokage and just take a stroll into Earth Country. Even after death the man still technically had a flee-on-sight order and Naruto was curious if such a thing still applied. Naruto figured he could do a pretty good impersonation of the man, especially considering he knew two of the man's more recognisable techniques, including the one that struck fear into the hearts of Iwa shinobi everywhere.

In the end he was talked out of it, rather harshly, by Gaara and Tayuya who told him he would probably end up kick-starting the Fourth Shinobi War. He thought that was a bit of an exaggeration but after their heated glares he dropped the subject quickly. Still, he figured it would be pretty hilarious to see a few Iwa nins piss themselves if he suddenly appeared in their midst's as Minato Namikaze himself.

A thought for another time; right now Naruto was more concerned with scoping out the surrounding environment. He always did this when he entered somewhere unfamiliar; it always paid to know your way out. He unsealed a kunai and drove it as hard as he could into a nearby tree, far enough that you couldn't make out the three prongs. He hoped that anybody who passed it would just ignore it as a normal kunai. He was still just technically in Fire Country so even if it was found it would probably just be treated as a relic of the last shinobi war.

His escape route set he quietly hopped past the border into the Land of Valleys itself, moving as subtlety and silently as his training allowed. He knew that Takigakure was a small village, larger than the recently formed Hoshigakure but still dwarfed by the five main nations. However that didn't mean they weren't still shinobi, as proof he could smell more than a few of their outlying patrols moving around the thick forests around him.

That was another thing he noticed; while Fire Country was well known for their forestry it had nothing on the Land of Valleys. It seemed like the entire country was just one massive jungle that stretched out an impressive distance until it met the borders of its neighbouring countries. There was so much forest he wondered if the country had been misnamed. The general dampness that clung to everything messed with his sense of smell a bit, forcing his to rely on his hearing more than usual.

Even with that small handicap he managed to make it through the patrols unnoticed. If he could outrun and hide from ANBU level shinobi in both Konoha and Suna then he could deal with a few chuunin guards that didn't even know he was there. He smirked; finding it all a little too easy as he finally broke out of the suffocating foliage of the jungle and found an awe-inspiring sight. Takigakure was, in a word, beautiful.

It sat up high on the largest cliff Naruto had ever seen as its trademark waterfall crashed over the side into the strangely calm pool below it. He could make out the outlines of buildings and walls high on the cliff but he knew that with all that water, plus the sheer height of the cliff itself would make walking up extremely difficult and climbing plain suicidal. The main thing he saw though was the absolutely enormous tree that proudly grew in the centre of the village, it dwarfed any building he had ever seen before and must have been as tall as the Wave Country bridge was long.

However he didn't let any of that dishearten him, he steeled his resolve knowing that the Shinobi of the village must have a way in and it would only be a matter of time before he found it.

* * *

Naruto took back his earlier sentiment; he had spent three days now circling the village, avoiding the patrols while simultaneously searching for the way the shinobi entered. He had of course found it, they approached the massive waterfall by walking across the lake and it parted to give them entry. Somehow Naruto didn't think that strategy would work for him and he had spent his time searching for another way.

What confused him was that there must have been a civilian way to enter the village but he had yet to find it. He knew they were called ninja villages but the entire village of Takigakure couldn't have been solely comprised of shinobi, could it? He couldn't even go around; the cliff that supported the village just seemed to stretch on forever in either direction. To go around he would have to actually enter another country before doing a U-turn and going all the way back and that would just take too long.

Finally it had gotten to the point where Naruto's patience had worn too thing and he decided to risk the cliff. He waited until the darkest part of the night, the moon was thin so he had a good cover of darkness as he set out towards the impressive lake. He kept on the lookout for any returning shinobi, he knew he would be stuck if any exited the village, his senses wouldn't be able to warn him in time thanks to the waterfall which masked their presence.

He dashed across the lake, his body so light that he didn't even make a ripple on its surface. He would have used a kunai to traverse the distance easily but the sound of it hitting the cliff-face might alert somebody. It suddenly gave him the idea to create a seal that projected a small field similar to a privacy seal to cancel out the sound a kunai made but he put the thought to one side, it was a bit late to be readjusting his plan.

He made it across the lake without incident, still very agitated due to the fact any number of shinobi could burst out of that waterfall without him knowing beforehand. He looked up the cliff-face; he had thought it looked intimidating from his camp but it had nothing to staring at it up close. He had to crane his head back all the way just to pick out its edge in the dim light of the night. Taking a deep breath he first placed one foot on the wall, then another, slowly but surely walking upwards.

Due to the thin coat of moisture it proved difficult to stick to the wall using chakra, he was simultaneously using the water walking exercise and the tree-climbing exercise, which despite their similarities were quite different. While tree climbing focused on forming your chakra into a vacuum to stick to the surface, the water walking technique used your chakra to repel the water, because more often than not it would be below you.

Even so, by taking it slowly and being extra careful with both his footing and his chakra control Naruto managed to make steady progress up the sheer face. He froze suddenly as he heard the sound that had become familiar to him over the past three days. The ever-present background noise of the waterfall seemed to dim as he heard the waters split into two mighty streams by some unknown source. He heard the jovial voices of a few shinobi as their exited their village on some mission or another.

Unfortunately that had the side effect of moving some of the waters of the waterfall slightly closer to Naruto. The resulting moisture build up on the stone and rock around him suddenly made his job sticking to the wall that much more difficult. A few beads of cold sweat managed to make their way from his brow to his chin with him unable to wipe them off for fear of even the slightest movement giving away his position.

Suddenly his worst fears came to light as one of his feet slipped, quickly giving way to the other as he used too little chakra and lost his suction. His eyes opened wide in a brief moment of panic before his hands instinctively shot out, grasping a life-saving handhold on the slippery rock. Unfortunately for him that simple move loosened some rock from the wall and almost in slow motion he saw some pebbles fall past him and drop with small splashes that might as well have been bombs.

Naruto's heart froze in his chest as one of the departing Taki nin stopped, looked behind him at the fresh ripples moving through the water. The man's hand immediately went for the Kunai in his pouch while his eyes pierced through the darkness above him, searching for even the slightest thing out of place on their precious cliff face. Naruto just waited with bated breath, hoping his henge would be enough as he lay back against the wall using the entirety of his body to stick to the cliff.

"Hurry up you baka, we're on a timer here!" Naruto had to hold back the immense sigh of relief as the female member of the team slapped the suspicious man on the back of the head, ushering for him to continue in. The man seemed to instantly lose interest with his small suspicion and the cliff face to turn to his teammate and nod like a kicked puppy, Naruto found the interaction somewhat familiar but at that moment he could have kissed that kunoichi. That was, if it wouldn't have gotten him surely captured and killed, if not by Taki then by Tayuya when she found out.

The team moved on, leaving the lake and subsequently Naruto behind while he finally released that small sigh and continued to scale the rock, this time using both his hands and his feet for added security. Right now he somewhat resembled a gecko as he scaled the cliff, wondering all the while why he hadn't thought to do this in the first place, it was much less nerve wracking. He finally rolled over at the top of the cliff, panting from the exertion both the climb and both chakra exercises put on his body. Even that didn't stop the smile spreading across his face when he turned his head and saw one of the best sights in his life, the walls of Takigakure in all their glory.

* * *

Naruto walked through the streets calmly, long having learned the secrets to blending in with civilian populaces. At least it answered his question about Takigakure and civilians; however that did open up the question of just where their civilian entrance was exactly. The question was too bothersome for him right now and would probably lead to a distracting argument in his head, something he didn't need when the situation required focus.

Currently he was reaching out with Kyuubi's chakra subtly to try and locate similar sources. He didn't find it hard; the other jinchuuriki obviously didn't have a good grasp on their resident's chakra. Either that or the seal was weak or weakening and Naruto wasn't sure which was more worrying. Unfortunately for him that was where his good luck ended; while he could detect the chakra presence nearby, with the crowds around pinpointing it became almost impossible.

He supposed he could ask where the jinchuuriki was but if Taki was anything like Konoha or how Suna used to be then he wouldn't meet with favourable responses. He sighed deeply to himself just looking around the place he had found himself in. It was some kind of market, a large one at that given the number of stalls and shops that reminded him all too much of the merchant quarter in Suna. Barely a few days away and he was already feeling the pangs of homesickness.

He chuckled to himself, earning a few strange looks from the residents that walked by, he could imagine what Tayuya would say in this situation. '_Call yourself a fucking shinobi getting freaking homesick like a baby? Grow a pair Shithead and get on with the fucking mission.' _He chuckled again but nodded to the chibi Tayuya that had taken from in his head, much to his amusement. He refocused on the task at hand, scanning the crowds for anything unusual that might lead him to his target.

To anybody watching he just appeared to be a regular citizen, stopping to the side of the busy streets to take a look around. However in actuality he was scanning every shop front, every face that walked by and every conversation taking place within a hundred meter radius. When he was like this he was the ultimate information gathering machine, supposedly private conversations instantly becoming known to him.

He frowned when he struck out; all he got were a few corrupt shopkeepers and a couple of thieves. With a subtle one-handed seal he produced four shadow clones in the darkness of the alleyway behind them. He masked the poof of their entry with a cough before they henged and walked out into the busy streets. He calmly waited, just leaning up against the wall, knowing that his clones knew what they had to do. All throughout the village the clones spread out, adopting the same technique as him to gather information more efficiently.

He grinned widely after ten minutes when one of the clones found something and destroyed itself to relay the information to him. He quickly dispelled all his clones before the eventual information back-log would give him a headache. His smile had returned even though it was tainted by slight hints of anger over what he had heard.

* * *

_The clone moved through the crowds expertly like a ghost, nobody even noticed its existence as it weaved past people, never touching a soul. Finding a suitable spot to begin his observation he settled against a wall, much like his original. He extended his senses and waited like a fisherman calmly awaiting the tug of his reel. Sorting through useless transaction information he finally struck lucky as he overheard a very interesting conversation coming from a few men near the end of the street._

"_I'm telling you, the Takikage is protecting her, it's like he actually likes the little demon freak." His friend seemed to be against this, the puppy-dog look of patriotism evident on his rounded features._

"_No way, Lord Shibuki would never condone the actions of that monster." The first man to talk just frowned._

"_I know the Takikage would never betray the village but it's obvious he's stopping that little demon from getting the punishment she deserves." The third man who had yet to speak crossed his arms, a disgusted look overcoming his scarred and weathered face._

"_Please, don't call that thing a she. It is nothing more than a blight on our fair village, tainting the sacred tree with its mere presence. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't able to make the Hero Water this year; no doubt it's trying to sabotage us from within." The man's companions nodded in solemn agreement._

"_But what are we going to do about it? Lord Shibuki will need the water to put on the regular display of power which prevents the other villages from invading." It was the rounded man who spoke, earning more nods of agreements from his co-conspirators._

"_Easy." The scarred man spoke up, leaning out of the shadows to reveal a pair of onyx eyes which sparkled with something the clone recognised all too well. "I happen to know that the demon is regularly seen around the east of the tree at night, always disappearing before anybody can get close. We'll go and set a trap for it there tonight, finally rid out village of it before it can destroy us in turn." The clone grimaced in disgust of what he had heard before dispelling itself, completely out of the awareness of the three conspirators._

* * *

The real Naruto grimaced as well; it was like delving back into his own past. When all was said and done Naruto thought he was going to have a word with the Takikage. He seemed to be protecting the jinchuuriki, which he had at least gathered was female, much like the Third had done for him. Yet also known to him was just how effective such protection was and Naruto just had to hope that the man really did value the jinchuuriki as a person, not just as a future weapon.

He still had a few hours until nightfall so he began to walk through the village, still keeping his ears open for any more information regarding the jinchuuriki. Anything on her appearance, age, or even what biju she carried would have been helpful. Most of all Naruto had an intrinsic urge to know the girl's, or woman's as the case may be, name. He wasn't sure why but he felt as though it was important.

* * *

Naruto sat as still as possible in the lowest hanging branch if the massive tree he could find that gave him a good view of its eastern flank. That was difficult in itself, the tree just seemed to get bigger the more Naruto looked at it and the lowest branch he could find was well up on its weighty trunk. He also had to be careful, from the reverent way the conspirators spoke about the tree it was obviously precious to the nation. He was fairly certain climbing all over it would be a big no no.

He had arrived half an hour before sunset, securing himself quite comfortably to the branch he found while his eyes constantly and vigilantly scanned the ground below him. Finally a few minutes after sunset he saw movement in the bushes far below. He was far away but he could still just about pick up a shock of mint green hair that almost perfectly blended with the cover. He smiled, hoping that this was who he was waiting for.

That smile quickly turned ugly as he spotted three more rustles in the bushes not too far from the girl, but enough that she didn't notice. The girl furtively looked around before tentatively stepping into the clearing that bordered a small pond. She looked around again before creeping over to the pond carefully, her ears primed for anything. Naruto sighed, remembering that was how he had been back in Konoha, never letting his guard down for a second.

In those few moments a deep throaty chuckle could be heard as the three conspirators from earlier emerged from the bushed, walking up to the now panicked girl. She looked ready to run for it but the three men managed to surround her on each side, blocking off her escape routes. The girl cowered down, unable to escape the beating she was now sure to receive. Naruto knew better, this was no mere beating they had in mind; he knew these men had no intention of letting this girl live.

The larger one he had first spotted was wielding a large sword braced on his shoulders. His stance looked a little strange but he at least looked like he knew how to wield it. The scrawnier man had two knives, one in either hand and he glanced around, obviously the one least comfortable with the situation. The last man, the scarred one that had actually suggested this horrific plan was casually swinging a large chain through the air, the end fashioned into a knife that glinted in what little light the moon provided.

Before they could even make a move towards the terrified girl Naruto dropped the full hundred feet to the ground from his perch. His body slammed into the ground with considerable force but he lightened the impact to tolerable levels by breathing out a harsh stream of wind chakra from his lungs to slow his fall. Even so his body had caused a small crater in the ground, spider web cracks spiralling outwards from his impact zone.

He stood up to his full height which, when actually compared to the men before him, wasn't that tall. The men just seemed shocked to see anybody, when they saw the glint of his headband they thought they had been found out by the Takikage. However when they saw the metal plate didn't bare their waterfall symbol, but the kanji for nine, they growled in annoyance with the scarred man stepping forward.

"Who are you?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, he would not kill him, he had technically done nothing wrong... yet, but he was certainly going to make this experience unpleasant.

"That's none of your concern. What you should be worried about is explaining why three fully grown men decided to attack a defenceless child at night no less?" He didn't hide the malice from his voice but strangely the scarred man's posture softened slightly.

"Ahh, you misunderstand, the thing that stands behind you cowering in a mock, taunting display of supposed fear is nothing but the Nanabi. My friends and I were merely taking it upon ourselves to permanently erase its existence from the world forever. Now that you understand the situation perhaps you would be willing to join us?" Naruto's eyes narrowed and he unknowingly began to channel killer intent at the men before him, making the scrawny one cower slightly, his grip on the knives loosening.

"The only monsters I see before me are you three." He settled into his main upright taijutsu stance, increasing the killer intent as he did so. "As a shinobi I am sworn to rid evils like you from the world." That was all that the middle man could take, Naruto's eyes seemed to be burning him from the inside out, he dropped his daggers and turned to run away, only to clothesline himself painfully on Naruto's outstretched arm.

His companions blinked in shock, one second Naruto had been stood in front of them, the next he vanished and caught their friend before he could flee. Living in a shinobi village prepared you for the speeds they could move at but even then Naruto's instantaneous movement was unreal. Unbeknownst to them Naruto had taken the liberty of littering the area with his Fujin no Iki seals. He was lucky; if he had waited any longer then they would have faded.

"W-what are you!" It was the large man who spoke and as soon as he did so Naruto appeared right in his face, so close that the man could see the jagged slits that occupied the boy's eyes.

"You can call me Nine." With that Naruto swiftly snatched the sword out of his grasp, snapping the poorly made blade over his knee and throwing the shattered remains to the side. He grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt before lifting him up with unexpected strength and throwing him with the same ease as his sword. The man sailed across the small clearing and impacted with his companion who had only now begun to stand up. The two were quickly knocked unconscious from the double blow as Naruto shifted his attention to the scarred man.

"Why are you doing this? That little demon deserves to die!" Naruto let out a very audible growl, a deep visceral sound that didn't belong in the throats of humans. In a flash of yellow he was in front of the man, already having grabbed the chain from the man much to his surprise. That momentary hesitation would cost a shinobi his life but this man was just a civilian, for Naruto to attack him properly would just be unnecessary.

He twirled the chain experimentally, unused the ungainly weapon but still managed to twist it in the air to wrap around the last man expertly, safely holding him in place. With a disgusted grimace Naruto held onto the chain tighter and focused. In the next instant the man found himself overlooking an enormous drop, a hundred feet at least. Naruto just looked down, deciding this was high enough. He dug the blade of the weapon in the branch of the tree, making it secure before he simply dropped the man, letting him freefall for a few seconds before the chain went taught and the man was jerked violently back up.

Naruto vanished again, appearing in the clearing only to look up; sure enough one could just about make out the form of the man hanging from the branch with the chain wrapped tightly around his body. Naruto let out a calming breath, snarling slightly as he thought he might have gone slightly overboard. Takigakure was about to become a bad place for him to stay in a few hours so he was going to have to quickly come up with an escape plan.

He turned to the sounds of sobs, his hardened and snarling features immediately softening when he saw the girl. Looking more closely now she was probably a year or two younger than him. She had the mint green hair as he had seen before and dark mocha skin. What drew Naruto's attention were her startling orange eyes, he didn't even think you could have eyes that colour. Right now those eyes were looking at him in a mix of terror and confusion.

Naruto sighed and moved closer but the girl immediately shied away from him, falling in her back and shuffling with her arms towards the small lake near the base of the tree. Naruto stopped moving forward, unsure of how to approach the girl. Instead of doing that he simple sat down where he was, adopting a cross legged seating position as he just sat there watching her patiently. Slowly the girl managed to move back to her feet, throwing glances between Naruto and the lake behind her before curiosity overcame her young mind.

"Who are you?" Naruto smiled kindly, a warm smile that made the girl tense; she was obviously unused to such treatment and didn't know how to react.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He spoke softly, much in contrast to the way he had spoken to the girl's assailants. Speaking of which the mint-haired girl kept throwing looks at the two unconscious bodies behind Naruto.

"Why did you help me?" Naruto smiled again, this time the girl didn't flinch, just staring at him strangely but not lowering her guard.

"Because if I hadn't you might be dead now." The girl gasped a little bit but suddenly became even more defensive than before.

"Why would you even care?" Naruto tried to maintain his smile as best he could but he suddenly found it hard as anger flared through him at the thought of what these people had done to this girl.

"Because we're the same." Again the girl seemed distressed, staring at Naruto with so many questions that she didn't know what to say.

"What do you mean the same?" Naruto frowned and shook his head, looking around as he heard the very distant sound of running footsteps.

"We can't talk here anymore, is there a safe place you go, somewhere where you hide?" The girl seemed unsure but nodded her head slowly. "Can you take me there?" Suddenly all the defences were back up as the girl scooted away from Naruto towards the lake. "Listen, we don't have much time, people are coming and it would probably be best we aren't here when they show up." The girl might have been frightened by Naruto's presence but the thought of more people was even more terrifying.

Her other fears overridden the girl just pointed to the lake before turning and diving in. Seconds later Naruto joined her, shooting through the cool waters like a bullet as he quickly located the girl. She swam away from him sloppily using a much improvised style to propel herself through the waters of a roughly human-sized tunnel. Naruto stayed on her trail and soon both of them gasped as they emerged from a pool inside the tree itself.

They both pulled themselves onto the roughly-carved floor of the strange room and the girl quickly put as much distance between her and Naruto as possible. It wasn't much in the small wooden room but it was enough for the girl to feel slightly safer. Naruto sat down again, exactly as he had before, noticing that the room seemed to be lit somehow. He looked up at the ceiling only to see a multitude of what looked like bright glowing orange crystals. He quickly realised that it was the sap of the tree, hardened into resin which let in the light of the moon high above them.

"What's your name?" Naruto again spoke in his soft tone; he really didn't want to upset the girl at this point. After a moment of hesitation and internal debate the girl looked back at him in a mix of defiance and caution.

"Fuu."


	33. Chapter 33

"That's a cool name, Fuu. What about your last name?" Fuu just shyly looked away a single tear rolling from the corner of her eye like a lost gem.

"I- I don't know. I don't know who my parents were. Nobody ever told me, nobody ever talks to me." Naruto nodded in understanding, it was the same with him although he at least had a last name to go on. It was a pain all orphans shared, the lack of knowing who you really are while everybody creates their own identities. There is always the craving to find out who you could have been, who you should have been, and where you fit in the world.

A long time ago Naruto had simply gritted his teeth and stopped thinking about it; he had his family, Gaara and Tayuya. His eyes watered just a little thinking about the girl in front of him; while people had saved him from himself at seven, she had nobody. He couldn't imagine being alone for so long and wondered what he would be like. It was a depressing line of thought and wouldn't do him any good; he instead focused on the girl in front of him that needed him now.

"Well, do you want to talk then?" Fuu just stared at him, a few emotions flashing across her malnourished features that Naruto couldn't quite catch. Most prominent through was her overwhelming suspicion over this whole situation.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" Naruto cringed; the untrusting words hurt him but he had to push through.

"Like I said, we're the same." Fuu's eyes narrowed, locking onto Naruto's own to try and understand what he was saying.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Naruto sighed wearily; this was going to take a long time. He stretched his back and shuffled backwards so he could lean against the wall; Fuu seemed cautious of the movement but tried not to show it.

"Fuu, what do you know about biju?" The girl looked at the ground, obviously thinking about the question; she couldn't place it but the word did seem familiar. She shook her head and Naruto sighed, it now just got a lot harder.

"Okay, um the biju are like these giant creatures made from chakra." He looked up at her from across the room "You do know what chakra is right?" The girl just nodded in irritation and Naruto held his hand up in a placating manner "Okay sorry, just checking." He chuckled, an action Fuu wasn't sure what to think of; she had never really heard another person laugh honestly, only when they are thinking of something malicious. Even so, she didn't believe that Naruto was doing anything or thinking of anything bad for her.

"The biju are very powerful, their power shown through the number of tails they have from one to nine. A lot of people try to control this power, but the only way they can do that is to seal the biju inside of humans." Fuu's eyes began to narrow as she thought about Naruto's words more. "The people they seal the creatures inside of are called jinchuuriki, the power of a human sacrifice." Now Fuu was really starting to panic.

"Why are you telling me this? What does this have to do with us?" Naruto looked at her pleadingly for a moment, the panicked and untrusting tone in her voice cutting him like a knife. He sighed and went to lift up his shirt; Fuu flinched but he just held up a hand to show he wasn't doing anything to hurt her. He lifted up his shirt so that she could see the intricate seal on his stomach; she blushed a little at seeing his toned body but became curious about the markings. "What's that tattoo mean?" Naruto chuckled, he guessed one could mistake it for a tattoo; of course those didn't disappear when you stop channelling chakra into them.

"That is the seal that keeps the Kyuubi, the nine-tails, inside of my body." Fuu let out another startled gasp but instead of frightened like he had expected she was more curious.

"So you're a jinchurimi?" Naruto chuckled again, a warm laugh that held no negative intent whatsoever.

"Jinchuuriki; and yes. The Kyuubi was sealed in my body when I was just a baby by the Fourth Hokage of the Leaf village." Fuu frowned as she rubbed her own stomach.

"So you think I'm a jinchuur-thingy as well?" Naruto nodded, this time looking down sadly.

"My village hated me too, they believed I was the creature sealed inside of me. They ignored me, beat me, called me names like demon or freak." Fuu's eyes opened wide, Naruto might as well have been explaining her own life to her. "From what I know it's the same for all of us, if we aren't hated we are feared or exploited for our powers. The villages keep us like we're some kind of weapons, hating our very existence while expecting us to value their own enough to die for them. My best friend Gaara is the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, his village tried to raise him into their ultimate weapon."

"Why are you here though? Why are you telling me this?" Naruto's eyes came back up, determination burning in them.

"Because nobody should have to live that kind of live, scrounging for any warmth and caring that we can." He stood up in the small room and Fuu for once didn't flinch. "That's why I came to find you, to help you." He took a few steps forward and Fuu still didn't move. "I can take you away from here, take you to somewhere where you won't be hated, where you can have friends and people that care about you." He crossed the distance until he was right next to her. "You can be one of my precious people." He held out his arm and the smaller girl nervously took his hand. "And then you can start having your own precious people."

The smile he gave her warmed Fuu's heart a little, Naruto just had a way of expressing all his positive emotion in a single grin. Fuu couldn't help the smile that touched her own lips, a smile that hadn't seen the light of day for far too long. Suddenly all that time she had spent hiding her emotions, protecting herself from other people and shielding herself away; all of that came crumbling down. She moved on the instincts of a child and threw herself forward, barrelling into Naruto on a bear hug. Her small arms didn't quite make it around Naruto's body but she gave it her best and after a moment of surprise Naruto hugged back.

"Thank you." Naruto looked at Fuu and saw she had a few new streaks running down her face, the light silvery lines just catching the moonlight as she cried in happiness. He smiled again and just waited until the small girl let him go; she stood and wiped the last of the tears from her face with her forearm. "But how are we going to get out of the village? I tried before and the shinobi just took me back." Naruto's kindly smile turned into a foxy grin.

"Don't worry about that, now you have me." He turned around so he didn't miss the slightly awed expression on Fuu's face. She had never had anybody in her life, not like this before. The Takikage was nice to her and did his best to protect her but he was always busy and they never saw each other that much. Naruto turned back around, seemingly focused on something in his head before his eyes opened and he nodded happily.

"Alright, we're good to go. I need you to hop on my back and hold on tight." To emphasise this he turned around and crouched down. Fuu didn't move for a moment but when Naruto turned around with that warm, comforting smile she quickly clambered onto his back. "Okay, this is going to feel really weird, try not to throw up if you can." Fuu stared sternly at the back of his head, as best a mall child could. Whatever it was that he had planned, she was ready for it if it meant escaping the village.

She suddenly felt a tingling sensations skip across her skin like being lightly electrocuted. Her world went a little fuzzy for a few moments but when it snapped back into focus she was shocked to see trees surrounding her. Naruto carefully lowered the girl off of his back; she was still just a little dizzy from the long-range transport. He smiled as he pulled the kunai out of the bark and resealed it in his wrist. At least now he knew the Fujin no Iki worked at long distance.

Fuu was just staring around herself in awe at the trees; she had never really been up close to the smaller versions of their sacred tree before. She had seen them when she tried to run out of the village but she hadn't gotten close enough. She walked up to one and lightly placed her hand on the bark, running her small fingers over its rough surface. Naruto looked at her with an amused smirk but said nothing, he had no idea how much the village had screwed up this girl's life.

"There, out of the village. How easy was that?" Naruto couldn't help the satisfied smirk that crossed his mouth for a moment.

"How did you do that? What did you do?" Naruto placed a conspiratorial finger to his nose.

"It's a secret." Fuu just pouted and Naruto found it cute, chuckling to himself. "Maybe I'll tell you later." Fuu seem to visibly brighten at that, she had essentially lived some kids' dream, to teleport instantly.

"So are you a ninja?" Naruto nodded as he checked some of his supplies, sometimes he lost things going through the seals. "So can all ninja do that?" Naruto just grinned to himself.

"Nope, only two people have ever been able to do what I just did, me and the Fourth Hokage." Fuu looked around the forest as he spoke but still listened intently.

"The man who made you a Jinchiwawa?" Naruto nodded again; this time a little more grimly Fuu caught onto the discomfort and tried to change the subject. "So are you some kind of freelance ninja if you aren't in Taki?" Naruto just chuckled and looked at her in amusement; she was so like him when he had tried to escape Konoha.

"No, I'm from one of the other villages." The girl looked shocked and a little awed.

"There are other ninja villages?" Naruto nodded happily, finishing up on his supply check.

"Yeah, a lot more. Hop on my back so we can get going and I'll tell you about them" Fuu did as she was asked and soon they were soaring through the trees, surprising Fuu at how fast Naruto could move. Even for a ninja Naruto was fast and right now he was toning it down so as not to scare Fuu. As he ran he explained the other villages, how there were five main ones and all the other nations that didn't have ninja villages hired them for jobs and contracts.

Fuu actually seemed a little happy that Takigakure wasn't a major village; they had always tried to stress to her the importance of their village in the world. Naruto growled as he knew they were just trying to make her loyal to the village and help her in becoming a weapon. He had wondered why she wasn't more knowledgeable on these things, by now she would have started in the ninja academy in Konoha.

It turned out she was eleven and would have started her training this year if Naruto hadn't come. In Taki girls start their ninja training after the men; it didn't make a lot of sense the way Fuu explained it but he got the general idea they were fairly chauvinistic. Naruto was a stamina beast but even he had his limits, especially when carrying somebody on his back. Even though Fuu was very light from her age and general thinness the extra weight still pulled him down.

The two settled down in a clearing and Naruto went about preparing everything they needed. Fuu watched him in awe as he set up the fire and pulled out some meat and vegetables from a scroll in his pouch. She marvelled at how completely self-reliant he was and at every turn was asking him questions about how or why he did one thing or another. Naruto was more than happy to answer all her questions; the last few days on his own had been pretty quiet and he was more than happy for the company.

By the time night came he was already beginning to feel sleepy and Fuu looked almost dead on her feet. They had both been through a lot that day and were smiling at the thought of finally resting. Fuu surprised him by asking if she could sleep next to him, she didn't want to be alone at night. He smiled softly like a parent might to their child when told they had a bad dream and just nodded. He didn't see the harm in it, he slept with Tayuya anyway and his nights had been a bit lonelier than he was used to.

Fuu surprised him, he had thought she would be cold and distant towards him, maintaining her layers and barriers of distrust to try and keep him away. Instead she seemed to be practically latching onto him like she had finally found somebody who showed her care and warmth and never wanted to let them go. Naruto had no idea of the truth in his thoughts; it was exactly how Fuu felt when Naruto looked at her. She had found the big brother she had never had and right now she would fight before somebody let her be taken from him.

Naruto settled down and instinctively wrapped his arm around Fuu like he would Tayuya, the girl didn't mind in the slightest and held onto his arm like a stuffed animal. Naruto would have smiled at the child-like way she behaved if he hadn't already drifted off into sleep, the familiar sounds of wind from his own mind growing louder.

* * *

He sat up in the grassy clearing to an incredibly strange sight, Kyuubi was across from him in her human form and she wasn't alone. After the incident with Itachi he had never seen her re-assume that visage; he had asked her why she didn't but she just said it had its uses and they were uncommon. His gaze drifted across to the other occupant of his mind, someone he was pretty sure shouldn't have been in here.

It was a she, could definitely tell that much, she was also young or at last young looking considering she was somehow in his mindscape. She had bright green hair that spiked out down her back that perfectly matched her emerald orbs for eyes. She had a bright smiling face and Naruto could just tell, as one of those people, that she was naturally excitable. She wore a bandana around her neck and a white tank top that cut off just above her naval below that she wore some almost indecently short shorts; other than that she was barefoot.

Another very prominent feature were the six enormous wings that spread from the girl's back, three on either side. They looked like they belonged on an insect, thin and transparent with feint veins criss-crossing it's surface. In fact, they looked exactly how Naruto remembered dragonfly wings from his younger days in Konoha. The girl also had a long green ribbon-like tail, also looking befitting of an insect, it wound away behind her, the same colour as her hair.

She was talking with Kyuubi across the clearing but when she spotted Naruto she squealed girlishly and rushed over incredibly quickly. Before Naruto knew what was happening he felt his face being pressed into two very warm and soft globes as the girl hugged him ecstatically. He flushed bright red at the close proximity to the woman's breasts but after a moment of two he started to gasp or air and wondered if this still was trying to kill him. She finally let him part from her only to look down at him with her wide green eyes in a cheerful smile.

"Uh, hello?" The girl's grin grew larger but by this time Kyuubi had made her way over.

"**Naruto, say hello to my sister of sorts, Chomei." **Naruto nodded politely in the girl's direction, wondering what the hell was going.

"**Aww, you're right Kurama he is cute." **Naruto blushed again as the vibrant girl spoke about him.

"Uhh Kyuubi? What's going on?" The vixen just sighed and placed her forehead in her palm.

"**Fuu, the one you rescued from Takigakure is the container of the seven-tails, Chomei here." **The hyper girl did a small curtsy at the mention of her name, going off in a fit off giggles afterwards. **"She always was the most carefree of the family." **Chomei just nodded happily.

"**You humans are always so down to earth, I couldn't imagine being stuck to the ground all day, it would just be boring." **Kyuubi sent her a slightly irritated look, much like siblings do.

"So you're the Nanabi?" Chomei nodded again, her smile still shining. "So why does Kyuubi call you Chomei?" The energetic girl sent him a funny look, her mouth twitching up at the side.

"**Because that's my name, or at least a close human approximation. It would take mandibles to say it properly." **She chuckled lightly at her own joke, sounding like a thousand crickets chirping. Naruto frowned, he had heard Kyuubi call the Ichibi Shukaku but he had always thought that was a name humans had given him, his eyes opened wide.

"Wait, did you call Kyuubi Kurama?" Chomei chuckled again, glancing between the red-haired vixen and her jailor.

"**Of course, what am I supposed to call her?" **Naruto just turned to Kyuubi, a little angry and slightly hurt.

"You've had a name this entire time and you never told me?" Kurama just shrugged, not looking particularly bothered by the accusatory tone.

"**It didn't seem that important." **Naruto huffed, pouting slightly which both of the Biju just raised their eyes at. **"It's not even my real name, like Chomei it's just an approximation." **Naruto still had his arms crossed but at least he stopped pouting.

"So what are you doing in my head Chomei?" The green-haired girl flopped down onto the grass and laughed.

"**I wanted to say hi, I've been bored out of my mind for the past eleven years." **Naruto joined her on the ground, soon followed by Kurama, but in a much more graceful manner.

"Why didn't you talk to Fuu?" He was curious because Kurama had been talking to him since he was seven. The green-haired girl just shot a look at the Kyuubi, it looked like jealousy.

"**Not all of us are lucky enough to be sealed by an altered eight elements seal that they can easily pass their chakra through." **Kurama just shrugged nonchalantly, looking bored with the conversation already. **"I have to wait until little Fuu is able to contact me before I can even whisper in her direction, never mind pass on chakra."** Naruto nodded in understanding. He already knew that each jinchuuriki was most likely sealed differently as Gaara's seal was vastly different to his own.

"This is going to sound weird but why are you a human right now?" Chomei just looked down at the ground sheepishly.

"**It was the only way I could trick the seal temporarily and allow me to establish this mental link." **Naruto nodded again, he couldn't say he understood but it seemed like a valid answer, even though by the way Kyuubi stared at her he could tell there was more to it. He was satisfied now and prepared to back out of his mindscape and get some sleep but before he could Chomei put a hand on his shoulder.

"**Tell Fuu I'm sorry about the way she gets treated and give her a great big hug from me" **Naruto once again found his head enveloped in warm and soft woman flesh as Chomei pulled him into her cleavage again in a very overenthusiastic hug.

* * *

Naruto woke groggily, quite unlike him as he was usually fairly alert in the mornings, he quickly figured out why when he realised it was still dark. He may have been a morning person but by the position of the moon it could only have been about four in the morning; that was pushing it. He rolled himself onto his back, quickly realising that Fu was nowhere to be seen. He shot up from under the blanket onto his feet, eyes already darting about.

He sensed her chakra not too far away and sprinted off in that direction, taking to the trees to get there quicker. He covered the distance in seconds, literally appearing on the branch that the girl was sitting on in a blur. He nearly fell from her perch in shock at his sudden arrival but he steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Fuu, what are you doing out here? You scared me when I woke up and you were gone." Fuu nearly cried when she heard that, she never had somebody who was concerned for her, the feeling was foreign and strange.

"Sorry." She hung her head and Naruto instantly felt bad for insinuating she had done something wrong. He looked around and as far as he could tell she was just sitting up here looking at the moon. He lifted her chin with a finger and wiped the few stray hands of hair away from her eyes; he idly mused that she would have to get a hair clip or something.

"It's alright, I was just worried about you." That time Fuu did let out a tear, all of this was just so overwhelming for the Nanabi jinchuuriki. Somebody actually cared about her, and not just as a weapon or in falsehood to gain her trust. "What were you doing out here?" Fuu looked away embarrassed.

"I don't sleep that much, usually only a few hours a day." Naruto thought that was fairly interesting and wondered if it had something to do with her tenant. He would find it pretty useful, more time awake meant more time to train or do other things in.

"But why did you come all the way out here?" Fuu just shrugged which made Naruto's eyebrow rise in amusement; he could hardly talk as he was known for his own random whims.

"It's peaceful up here." Naruto nodded, he had to agree with her; it was night time so the birds were quiet. All you could hear was the wind moving between the branches of the trees and the gentle buzzing of insects.

"Well come on, now that we're both up we might as well get moving again, we haven't even passed into the Land of Hot Water yet." Fuu nodded happily, riding on Naruto's back as he sprinted across trees was her new favourite hobby; it was indescribable. She hoped that one day he could teach her how to do it; it would get her closer to the sky and for some reason she felt more at peace the further from the ground she was.

Naruto packed up the camp and soon they were back to it, sprinting across the country side just skimming the borders of Fire and Sound Country. He made sure to be careful, he knew this whole area could be patrolled by both Konoha and Oto shinobi alike and Naruto didn't fancy having to explain why he was passing through either territory. It took a few hours but they finally passed into the Land of Hot Water, Naruto could tell because the air got colder and the air was beginning to thin as the terrain moved uphill.

He could have stopped in at Yugakure but Naruto was making very good time and he wanted to get across the Land of Frost before night came otherwise there would be trouble. They stopped when they had to eat but other than that Naruto was locked in a dead run with Fuu on his back for the entire day. She enjoyed having the extreme piggy back but she also felt a little useless, like a deadweight holding Naruto back. She didn't know that was true but she still felt bad for it anyway.

By the time they passed into Frost Country Naruto already began to feel himself tire. His muscles were slowing down and the persistent chill in the air didn't help things at all. Usually this journey would have been nothing for him but with the cold and the weight on his back he was definitely beginning to struggle. It also didn't particularly help that occasionally he was forced to trudge through large snow drifts.

He sighed to himself deeply creating a mist of steam in front of him from his warm breath. In Konoha it was summer now yet here he was almost knee deep in copious amounts of snow and ice. He worried for Fu, she wasn't particularly dressed for snow, the thin clothing he had leant her not really covering her body the necessary amount. He was okay, Kyuubi's and his own chakra kept him warm circulating in his body but he wasn't sure if the same could be sad for Fuu.

She hadn't complained yet but when he felt her give a small shiver from his back he gritted his teeth and increased his pace. He didn't want to be the reason for her getting hypothermia so he started channelling Kyuubi's chaka to both keep him awake and to increase his speed. Fuu didn't know what was going on with Naruto, she was more curious about the fact that she didn't feel nearly as cold as she thought she should have. They were surrounded by snow but she only felt like she was standing outside in a windy day.

She also wondered if it had something to do with what Naruto had told her about herself. He didn't look cold in the slightest but when she shivered she felt him tense from her position on his back. Suddenly Naruto's back seemed to warm up almost imperceptibly and Fuu was overcome with a wave of comfort. Naruto just seemed to be exuding an aura that made Fuu feel perfectly safe and at home. She couldn't explain it but maybe if she asked him he could; she decided against it though, he seemed to be concentrating even more now, picking up their pace.

"Naruto, where are we going? I thought you said you lived in Sunagakure, isn't it supposed to be hot there?" Naruto chuckled but because of the chakra he was channeling it came out slightly deeper than normal; Fuu still felt okay with it, it just seemed powerful and comforting.

"We aren't going to Suna. Well, we will eventually but we can't go there for a while." Naruto didn't need to see her to know Fuu was giving him a puzzled expression. "I'm on a training trip right now, I can't go back to Suna for two years. Right now we're heading for Kumogakure, and it's colder because it's up in the mountains." Fuu grumbled a bit; while she didn't hate the cold she also couldn't say she liked it either. Naruto heard this and chuckled again earning even more grumbling from his passenger.

He was distracted so he didn't notice the slightly different shine in the snow ahead which ended up with him tripping over the protruding metal par. He and Fuu both went crashing into the snow with Fuu getting off light thanks to being on Naruto's back. He picked himself up, brushing off the snow and murmuring about distracting women before examining what he had tripped on. He had heard the metallic ring as his foot had struck it but wondered what it could be so far out here in the wilderness.

He brushed some snow away from the bar and stared at it strangely, noticing its twin two feet away. The two metal bars lay in parallel with one another, both stretching off in either direction under the snow. He brushed away the snow in between them to find wooden planks at regular intervals perpendicular between the bars. He just stared at the strange sight, never having seen anything like it before; well, that actually wasn't entirely true.

"What is it?" Naruto shook his head, shrugging his shoulders as he did so.

"I don't know, I guess it kind of looks like the tracks for the mine carts back in the mines at Suna but much bigger." He wondered at the size of the thing that must ride on the tracks. The tracks were three times the size of the corresponding mine cart tracks. "Come on, we should keep moving before you catch a cold or something." Fuu nodded but was still staring at the frozen metal strangely. Naruto picker her back up and sprinted on, both quickly moving on in their thoughts from the strange sight.

A few hours later and they were both out of the endless snow banks and frozen lakes of Frost Country. In a way, with its bleakness and monochrome nature, it had reminded him a lot of the deserts in Wind Country, just much, much colder. Finally though they started to see rocky outcropping emerge from the snow at intervals until eventually they were rid of it completely. Except of course they were left with something worse; a blanket of mist had descended over the area and it was only by Naruto's exceptional map skills did he keep them on the right track, that and the fact they were just following a road.

With a chuckle Naruto remembered the conversation he had with Kurama all those years ago. He now did understand the concept of condensation and realised that they weren't walking through mist, but clouds. He relayed this information to Fuu who for some reason was overjoyed at the prospect she was walking through clouds, or running as the case may be. Naruto just shrugged; if they were in the clouds then Kumo couldn't have been far away.

After an hour of stumbling around, near blind thanks to the cloud coverage all around him, Naruto began to get annoyed. This place could rival Kirigakure in its difficulty to find. The air had also begun to get noticeably thin even though the few scarce people they came across didn't seem affected in the slightest. They got a few strange looks as they walked through a village. After all, a blonde fourteen year old with a strange ninja headband giving a high-speed piggy back to a mint-haired girl with caramel skin wasn't exactly a common occurrence.

With an enormous sigh of relief they finally seemed to get above the clouds, a fact Naruto thought he would never be experiencing. The sight that they caught though was even more breathtaking than the lack of air at this altitude. Stretching out in front of them was a multitude of mountainous peaks, possibly thousands of feet high. The village seemed to be built into the mountains themselves with circular wooden structures encircling the peaks. In the centre of it all was the largest mountain Naruto had ever seen, or probably ever wood, engulfed by an intricate and massive glass sheath of a building.

Large walkways were built in between the peaks but it was obvious most of the village itself was built inside the mountains offering the ultimate defence of nature. Naruto could also see many gardens and training grounds built atop the mountains with a few radio antennae thrown in as well. The sight was really unlike anything Naruto had ever seen in his life and he was just now starting to understand how unique the hidden villages were.

"Well Fuu, welcome to Kumogakure." He smirked at her awed expression before setting off towards the inspiring sight.


	34. Chapter 34

As hard as finding the village itself was the actual gate proved no challenge to find now that Naruto knew where he was looking. The gate guards, usually dull and inattentive to their duty except during important occasions, gave him a curious once-over, especially fixating on his headband and the girl on his back. He made a move to place Fuu on the ground but the girl was having none of it, she just clung to his back harder like a tick.

"Uhh Fuu, we're here. You can get off now." She just laughed slightly in his ear, a sound that Naruto had come to enjoy hearing ever since he had rescued her.

"What if I don't want to get off?" Naruto gained a cheeky grin as he craned his neck to try and look at Fuu who just moved back so he couldn't see her small blush. She usually wasn't this bold about anything; it wasn't productive in the village where subtlety and deceit got her food and clothing.

"I'm not a free taxi service you know." Fuu just nodded her head in disagreement of him furiously.

"Yes you are, that's part of being a big brother!" Both jinchuuriki froze; Naruto because he was so shocked and Fuu because she hadn't meant to say that out loud. Naruto carefully set Fuu down, which she allowed him to do without protest, and looked down to her with an enormous smile. Fuu could barely comprehend what was happening before she found warm, strong arms envelop her thin shoulders in a brotherly hug.

"I'm glad I found you imouto." A small tear trickled down her cheek at hearing those words and she dived back into the hug to wipe them off on Naruto's chest.

"Not as much as I'm happy you saved me Oniisan!" Naruto's smile grew before he swivelled and motioned for her to once again jump on his back, to which she did with enthusiasm.

"Umm identification please?" Naruto had almost forgotten the two were standing outside of the gates to a major hidden village. Currently the male gate guard didn't know what to make of the scene he had just witnessed while the female member looked ready to shed a tear at the emotional display. The man was rather large, impressively so, with muscles rippling along his body. Naruto guessed when it came down to it his chakra-enhanced strength would match up but he couldn't rule out the possibility the man could do something similar.

The woman was more lithe but with the definite air of somebody at least used to getting in and out of conflicts. Both of them were dark, darker than Naruto had ever seen anybody before, even Fuu. He had been told that many people from Kumo and Iwa had a brown complexion but he wasn't sure what that meant until now. However both were now staring firmly at him and the passenger on his back who peeped her head up over his right shoulder like a parrot.

"Uhh what do you mean identification? I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The gate guards looked exasperated and Naruto sighed thinking this was probably a regular occurrence with outsider visitors.

"Everybody in Lightning Country must have identification cards to help prevent trespassing into certain areas." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly, he didn't know about that, nor had he been warned. In any case he certainly wouldn't have had identification for Fuu and she didn't even know her last name.

"Umm, couldn't somebody just steal the identification card and henge into the person?" The gate guards just narrowed their eyes wondering why an outsider with a strange headband was questioning their security measures. "Um anyway I don't have anything like that. I'm from Suna with a message from the Kazekage for the Raikage." Again the gate guards were suspicious but he quickly whipped out the scroll and showed them the Kazekage's seal.

"Okay, but during your time in the village, unless allowed by the Raikage, you must have an escort with you at all times." Naruto raised an eyebrow, as far as he knew the other hidden villages were nowhere near this tight when it came to security, it would slow many things down. Naruto didn't have that much of a problem with it anyway; he wasn't a spy so he had nothing to hide. He nodded and shrugged and the male gate guard went to find an available jounin to escort him.

"So you call each other siblings but from the looks of you, you can't possibly be related." It was the female who had spoken, usually she wouldn't have pried into private affairs but they had genuinely piqued her interest. Naruto wasn't sure what to say. 'T_echnically I kidnapped her from a hidden village because they were mistreating her, oh and also she's a jinchuuriki like me!' _somehow didn't seem to cut it.

"Yeah, she never had that many people to trust before I came along I guess." The woman just smiled kindly and thankfully stopped prying any further as she caught Fuu's uncomfortable look. They waited around for a bit with both Naruto and Fuu getting highly bored. Fuu began to hum to herself which Naruto smiled at and didn't make an attempt to stop. The tune was familiar to him yet he didn't remember hearing anything like it recently. He internally shrugged and dropped it just before the gate guard came back with their guide.

She was definitely a jounin; there was that aura of accomplishment and confidence in her abilities that came with the position. Other than that Naruto would have said she was chuunin from her age. She couldn't have been more than nineteen with flowing sandy blonde hair that would have cascaded down her back except for the bandages that kept it in a waist-length pigtail. She was slim in build but she looked graceful and agile like a kunoichi should.

She wore a tight-fitting shirt that was black across the shoulders and arms but a light purple from her chest down. Fingerless gloves adorned both her hands while odd beads wrapped around her left forearm. Her pants were standard shinobi in black with a small purple cloud decal over her left ankle. They cut off just above the ankles and below that her legs were bound with tape and she had the standard-issue black sandals. Naruto thought it was a strange look but he couldn't argue with it if the girl was successful enough to earn full jounin so young.

"High, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The girl just stared at him disinterestedly; Naruto suddenly felt something when he was near her like an innate familiarity. He shrugged it off as just a weird feeling or maybe something he ate and followed when the woman motioned for him to do so. "This is Fuu." The woman seemed to take more interest of the girl on his back than Naruto himself which he was a little disgruntled about but soon she went back to her normal air of apathy.

They walked for some time through stone hallways cut from the mountain and impressive bridges spanning the peaks, always heading in the direction of the blue dome-like structure around the largest mountain. Along the way the woman kept throwing them both curious glances but hid them well, afterwards he would look at nothing in particular and just shake her head as if in disbelief. Naruto had also begun to feel strange, he could feel the energy signatures of Kumo's jinchuuriki nearby but like in Taki he had no way of narrowing it down without first getting some information.

"So what's it like being a kunoichi for Kumo?" He asked it innocently enough but the woman rounded on him suddenly.

"Stop asking question, why do you even care? Once you're gone you'll probably never see me again and if you do it will probably be alongside those bigots the Raikage calls villagers." The woman turned back around, obviously in a huff while Naruto walked after her, now confused.

"What do you mean about the villagers?" The woman sneered slightly, more out of irritation that condescension.

"Like you would know anything about it." Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Try me; I've had my share of problems with ignorant villagers." The woman just scoffed and kept walking

"Please, I bet you had a few bullies when you were younger and felt your childhood was terrible." Naruto's eyes narrowed again dangerously and he was beginning to dislike this woman for the way she arrogantly put her problems above others. Naruto wasn't shallow enough to believe he had the worst childhood out of anybody in the world but this woman didn't even care to ask.

"I would hardly call mobs of townspeople armed with weapons all out for my blood _a few bullies_. You've obviously had some hardship in your life but that gives you no right to belittle mine or Fuu's past. We've both had to live through being punished for something we both didn't understand and had no control over." The woman seemed to hesitate at those words, her annoyed sneer turning into a frown as she looked at both of them closer, finally noticing the kanji engraved on Naruto's forehead.

"Wait, are you a-?"

"Jinchuuriki? Yeah I am. I had hoped to keep that a secret so me and Fuu could at least have some peace while we're here but now it looks like I'm going to have to find somewhere else after speaking to the Raikage." The woman just seemed visibly shocked, her eyes latched onto the girl wrapped almost protectively around Naruto's back. Yeah, Fuu is too." He answered her unspoken question as she looked at them both before narrowing her own eyes.

""What is this, some cruel joke the villagers are pulling? Who put you up to this? Did Bee put you up to this as a joke because if he did I'm going to kill him. It's not funny!" Naruto just stared at her slightly disbelieving in.

"What are you talking about?" The woman just walked over and grabbed his shirt rather harshly.

"I don't believe you, prove it!" Naruto pulled her hand off his shirt despite her unnatural strength and backed off a little.

"I can't, flaring Kyuubi's chakra would bring a lot of unwanted attention and Fuu can't even access hers." He cursed, not wanting to have revealed which biju he carried; then again his headband was a dead giveaway. The woman looked a little awed, she had suspected from the kanji on the forehead protector but he had just confirmed it. It wasn't everyday you got to meet the container for the most powerful entity in the elemental nations.

"I need to take you to see the Raikage immediately." Naruto just looked at her strangely while rubbing the back of his head, a gesture Fuu always found amusing because she knew it meant he was embarrassed.

"Um, aren't we going there anyway?" The woman just looked at him blankly for a moment before scowling and turning to go, just hiding the smallest of blushes as they quickened their pace through the village.

"Yugito Nii." It was barely a whisper, even Naruto didn't quite catch it with his impressive hearing.

"What was that?" The woman didn't turn and just carried on walking in the direction of the domed building.

"My name Is Yugito Nii." Naruto grinned broadly but that was missed as Yugito hurried on through stone passageways and across tremendous bridges. They kept winding through the village until finally they entered the Raikage Tower and the difference was noticeable. Outside it was cold and very windy, in the glass casing it was actually rather pleasant, warm but not enough to make somebody sweat. Yugito continued to lead the two of them as they climbed higher and higher into the building.

Naruto just kept gazing out into the village, his breath taken away by the sight from this altitude. Their journey came to an end outside a rather plain looking door that clearly had 'Raikage' inscribed in the wood. A kindly-looking and very attractive woman with short silver hair and dark skin nodded at them to enter and Yugito did so without another word. Naruto could honestly say that the sight inside was almost as awe-inspiring as the view of the mountains.

Sat behind a comparatively small desk sat the largest and most muscled man Naruto had ever seen in his life. Just the sight of him exuded power and respect without him having to twitch a single one of his enormous muscles. His platinum blonde hair was done back in thick dreadlocks which flicked outwards at his neck and had a matching goatee and moustache. The man wasn't wearing a shirt and the desk hid his equally impressive legs so all Naruto could see of his clothing were the two golden bracers around his wrists.

"So you're the messenger from the Kazekage?" Naruto nodded; annoyed at being called just a messenger but he didn't want to say anything in front of this behemoth of a man. He politely nodded and quickly reproduced the scroll he had shown to the gate guards, handing it over. He noticed that the man's hands dwarfed his own and had to keep reminding himself he was only fourteen of else he might have felt inadequate. The man looked over the scroll with a practised eye, his brow quirking every so often as the only indication he was reading at all.

"This is interesting, I will have to give this some thought but many of your Kazekage's requests are very reasonable. It is impressive for such a young man." Naruto smiled a bit at the praise his friend was getting, not really caring if it might be mistaken for patriotism, he knew where his loyalties lay. "I will have my reply ready in a few days for you to return to Suna with." Here came the part that Naruto suddenly became very nervous with. Despite having known four different Kages the man in front of him still cast an intimidating shadow.

"I'm sorry Raikage-sama, I will be unable to return with the reply." The man looked questioning but thankfully there was no suspicion in his eyes.

"And why is that? You are a messenger aren't you?" The bulky man looked Naruto over once, including the young girl who was still clinging to his back.

"Actually no, I am just a close friend with the Kazekage and was on my way here anyway so he thought the message would be safe with me." The Raikage raised his large brow but nodded, accepting the answer.

"And why, might I ask, were you on your way here then?" Naruto stood a little straighter subconsciously from the natural authority in the man's voice.

"I was instructed by Gaa-the Kazekage to go on a two year training trip to better prepare myself for future threats." Again the massive man nodded even though it was obvious he was now in some thought or another.

"And why would you come to Kumo when Konoha are not only closer but currently allies with Sunagakure?" Naruto held back his smirk, now rather thankful for the list of reasons Gaara had rattled off.

"There are rumours that the two jinchuuriki that currently reside in Kumo have somehow gotten perfect control over their biju." The Raikage nodded very slowly, now extremely wary as he noticed Yugito tense slightly from her position by the door. "I have come to request similar training, or at least guidance from one of them to better control my own." The man in front of him didn't even look fazed by Naruto's sudden revelation.

"And you contain...?"

"The Kyuubi Raikage-sama." That time the man did show some surprise, the last he heard the Kyuubi was under the control of Konoha, not Suna. Not only did this mean that the Land of Fire was lying but they were substantially weaker thanks to that loss.

"And what are your other reasons for coming here?" Naruto had to physically prevent himself from breaking out into a sweat; the man was a fearsome interrogator despite the seeming innocence of his questions.

"I have a lightning affinity that until now has gone untrained. The Kazekage and I thought it was wise to fix that in preparation for my eventual conflict with Akatsuki." Everybody in the room visibly tensed at the mention of the organisations name, all of them knew of it and the dangers it posed to the jinchuuriki. "I should also probably note that Fuu here..." he motioned in an obvious way to the slightly frightened girl on his back "... is also a jinchuuriki, container of the Nanabi." If the Raikage didn't look all that surprised before he certainly did now.

Not only did one jinchuuriki just walk into his village, but two and both were relatively young. If he was his father the two would probably have been already restrained and examined for ways to extract the creatures inside of them into more acceptable hosts. As it was the Raikage already knew that it required an Uzumaki to house the Kyuubi, nobody else would have the sheer chakra reserves at the required age of sealing. The girl was a different matter but she seemed to be under the protection of the blonde and the wrath of the Kyuubi was something A had no intention of bringing down on his village.

"I agree that it would more than likely be in everybody's best interests if you two gained control over your biju." Naruto looked a little surprised that the man had included Fuu in that statement but he didn't show it. In honesty he hadn't really thought about Fuu using her abilities, the other chakra couldn't get through yet so she was safe. "However I cannot ask the two jinchuuriki of this village to give up their time to train two outsiders. If they agree then I have no qualms whatsoever."

Naruto smiled and would have shaken the man's hand if he didn't fear he might not get it back afterwards. The man just nodded to Naruto's right and he turned only to see Yugito looking at him strangely. She seemed to be eyeing him up and it made him rather uncomfortable the way her eyes roamed over his body. It wasn't anything romantic or lustful, more like a predator eyeing up its prey to see its worth as a kill.

"Bee will be fine with it I'm sure, if the kid really needs it that badly I'll help out where I can." The Raikage nodded his agreement as Naruto just stood blankly between them before turning back to Yugito.

"Wait, you're one of the jinchuuriki?" The woman nodded rather grimly and Naruto suddenly felt bad about the way he had spoken to him earlier. "I'm sorr-"

"Save it, you didn't know. Besides it was also foolish of me to assume my problems were worse than your own." Naruto nodded equally solemnly, out of the three of them Fuu still probably had the worst of it. This woman looked like a capable and worthwhile jounin so at some point she either found the approval she was looking for or life cut her a brake like it had for Naruto. "Come on, we better go find Bee and tell him about it. He'll probably be alright training you but with that man sometimes even I can't tell." Naruto nodded again, following Yugito out of the room while the Raikage took it all it with a curious eye, wondering what to make of this situation.

Naruto was once again led through winding passageways but this time deeper into the mountains; further from the entrance to the village. After a while the cramped stone hallways seemed rather oppressive and seemed to bear down on him with all the weight of the mountain. To say it was intimidating would have been doing it an injustice; he wondered what kind of person regularly walked down these hallways.

They emerged into a large plateau that overlooked yet more mountains around the back of the village. In the centre of it stood a man Naruto could almost compare to the Raikage in size and sheer intimidation. Like the Raikage his hair was a platinum blond bordering on white that was pulled into flatter dreads that better matched his clean-cut beard. He wore a standard white armour vest but nothing underneath which showed off the tattoo for 'iron' inscribed on his shoulder. He also had two blue bull horns tattooed on his left check below his sunglasses.

He had an assortment of swords crisscrossing his back and Naruto wondered what each of their uses were considering there were seven and he couldn't use them all. He had a white bandanna around his neck and a brown belt around his waist that supported his normal navy pants, also crisscrossed by white belt-like strips of cloth. To complete the look he had a matching set of white bracers and greaves to make him look, in a word, fearsome.

"Hey Bee, you'll never guess what washed up in Kumo!" Naruto was rather surprised at the relaxed and friendly way Yugito addressed the man compared with the much colder way she spoke to him. The large man, identified as 'Bee', saw them and walked over with his features set in an impassive, unemotional look.

"Yo little miss two, what can I do for you?" Naruto watched him for a moment as the plateau went eerily quiet. _'Did he just rap?'_

"This is Naruto and Fuu." Bee looked at them, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses but still obviously looking them over as everybody seemed to be doing.

"Well look at the new jinchuuriki additions to Kumo; Miss seven Fuu and Mr Nine Naruto." Everybody looked at the man with astonishment, he had instantly known they were both jinchuuriki, but not only that, he knew which Biju they held. "Don't look all shocked or Hachibi's pride'll get mocked." Naruto sighed in relief, so this was the container for the eight-tails, maybe he had some kind of ability to sense other Biju.

"_**Yes, while not the most level-headed out of us, Gyuki certainly was a perceptive little oxtopus." **_Naruto looked inwardly strangely at Kyuubi.

_Don't you mean octopus?" _He just heard chuckling from his head.

"_**You'll see, maybe." **_Naruto just huffed in annoyance; Kyuubi could really get to him sometimes when she held back information. He still hadn't fully forgiven her for hiding her name for so long.

"How did you know which biju we had? Or that we were jinchuuriki at all?" Bee looked at him seriously, as if he was considering the question completely. He walked over and placed one of his large fingers against Naruto's forehead protector.

"It wasn't all that hard to find, I just had to use my mind." They all heard a snort from Yugito but Bee ignored it. "You made it easy with your forehead protector, for little seven I had to be an inspector. Suna has one, Iwa five and four, but that's a bore, you want to know more. Three and six belong to Kiri so here's my theory that little Fuu isn't so teary because I'm right and Nanabi is in sight! Aww Yeah!" He used hand gestures to punctuate his rhymes and Naruto didn't quite believe what he had just seen.

Everybody just stared at the man for a few seconds, not even crickets could be heard chirping in the background it was so quiet. He looked up in pride with his arms crossed and while Naruto was rather impressed that he had managed to work all that out so quickly he was still incredibly wierded out.

"Why are you talking like that?" Over to his side Yugito just face-palmed and muttered something obscene under her breath. Very suddenly Naruto found himself enveloped in Bee's muscled arm as he wrapped both him and Fuu in a large semi-hug.

"Lemme tell ya Naruto, rap's the music of ma' soul so be very clear when I say that for me there ain't any other way." Naruto managed to work out of the man-hug quickly and went back to staring at the large man in front of him. He didn't want to make a bad impression on the man because it was his decision whether or not he would receive training.

"Well nice ta meet you Bee, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, this here is my little sister Fuu and we came here to get training from you!" Everybody on the plateau just stood slackjawed at Naruto's back, except for Fuu who giggled a little at his on-the-spot rap. Yugito's eyes just stared at him disbelieving while they flickered back and forth between him and Bee who was equally shocked. In a flash of lighting Naruto felt his bones being shattered as he was enveloped in an even more deadly man-hug. Fuu didn't fare much better being on his back at the time.

"Lil' nine understands me; this is how it should be for jinchuuriki!" Naruto didn't exactly appreciate being called little but he couldn't complain right now because he didn't have full use of his lungs. When he started to see images of his life flashing before his eyes Bee finally let go, letting both him and Fuu fall to the ground in a heap. "What about you little Fuu, got any sick rhymes to spew?" Yugito's eyes nearly shot out of their sockets and she quickly ran over and grabbed Fuu's hands.

"No way, I'm not letting you corrupt this one." With that she pulled Fuu onto her back much like Naruto had done and ran away. Naruto looked frightened and made a move to go after her but Bee put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, the entire hand engulfing his shoulder.

"Don't worry about little miss seven, with Yugito she gonna be in heaven." Naruto wasn't entirely sure what that mean but Bee didn't give him the time as he swung him around to face him. "So you come to the Killer Bee for training?" He smiled almost wickedly "For you, draining; for me, entertaining." Naruto suddenly got a sinking feeling growing at the pit of his stomach as he looked up at the Hachibi jinchuuriki.

* * *

Naruto practically had to drag himself through the threshold of the house, for the first training session he would be having with Bee of many he hadn't held back in the slightest. Bee had told him that the first step to controlling the biju was to control his own body, or at least rhymes to that effect. To that effect he had been doing physical exercises until his muscles screamed at him to stop and then he was forced to carry on anyway.

That was interspersed with 'light' spars with the man himself, spars that Naruto had been beaten in repeatedly. He had even pulled out the Fuijin no iki at one point, much to Bee's surprise, but still hadn't been able to win. Bee's honed and conditioned reflexes combined with his training and his own biju allowed him to dodge most of Naruto's attacks; and all of that was before he pulled out the swords. Naruto had at first thought it was some kind of joke when Bee entered his seven-sword stance but like many people who had faced him before Naruto quickly found that it was no laughing matter.

It left absolutely no defences open, the man was like a whirling maelstrom of death which was ironic considering who he was fighting. To a non-kenjutsu-user like Naruto it was almost impenetrable; Naruto had been forced to use kunai sharpened with wind-chakra just to survive the initial onslaught. That wasn't to say Naruto was considering kenjutsu, he was more of an upclose and personal or ninjutsu user anyway.

He stumbled in through the open door and nearly collapsed on the soft carpet right there and then. He only stayed standing because he realised Yugito and Fuu were sitting on the couch in the room he had just entered. Both were looking at him with amused expressions as he just stood there, battered and bruised and barely conscious. Well, Yugito was amused; Fuu immediately sped over to check on him.

"Oniisan!" The mint haired girl was already trying to check him over but he quickly put a placating hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Fuu, I was just training." The girl was still upset; she didn't like seeing the man who had saved her looking like this.

"But you're hurt!" Naruto chuckled a little, any more and he probably would have erupted into a fit of coughing.

"That just shows how hard I worked." Fuu just furrowed her brow, eyes watering slightly.

"But why do you work so hard if it just hurts you?" Yugito had gotten up to leave them alone at this point but she stayed by the door, watching with interest as Fuu asked that.

"I have to get stronger Fuu; there are lots of dangerous people in the world who want to hurt me and the people precious to me like you. I need to get stronger so I can protect you and them." By now Fu's eyes weren't just watering, tears were streaming down her face as she ran into Naruto's body, once again doing her best to hug him.

"Oooph! Careful Fuu, I'm still a little sore." The girl immediately backed away and blushed embarrassedly. "Don't worry about it; just know that I'm doing this for a reason that's important to me." Fuu nodded, now understanding somewhat; she may have just been a kid but she understood protecting what was precious to you, but before now she never had anything precious to protect.

"Then I want to train as well so you don't have to bear that burden by yourself!" Naruto chuckled again, ruffling Fuu's hair a bit which she didn't really appreciate much.

"I'd be happy to train you but if you want anything better you would have to ask Yugito or Bee-sensei." He turned to look at said woman who was stood in the doorway who until now had been smirking to herself. Now she felt rather caught in the headlamps as Naruto looked at her expectantly and Fuu just stared at her with her orange puppy-dog eyes. There was no force on earth that could stand against those innocent, recently watery eyes.

"I guess I could show you some basic taijutsu but if you only have two years for the training trip, and I don't suspect you'll be spending it all here, in that case she won't be able to get very much of the biju training in." Naruto just nodded, he had already resolved to train Fuu as much as he could. The better she could defend herself the better and she was a jinchuuriki, she would be able to pick things up pretty quickly once she got in touch with her biju. Chomei seemed nice enough so he suspected she would want to help out as much as possible which was only plus.

"Alright, that's cool then!" Yugito just chuckled and Naruto raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"It's nothing, you just sound like somebody I know, you'll probably see her around, all the guys do eventually." She said that with a knowing smirk that was more for herself than Naruto but he just nodded.

"Well alright then." With that Naruto promptly fainted to the floor with a heavy thump.


	35. Chapter 35

Naruto flew across the rocky plateau but contrary to how that might have gone six months ago he managed to twist his body in the air and land on both feet in a solid three-point stance. Immediately he had to use his one grounded hand to flip himself up and forwards over his brutish attacker to avoid the knee that would have sure impacted with his chin otherwise. Once again he had barely moments to stay on the ground before he was forced to evasively dodge to one side, rolling along his shoulder to soften the impact.

Currently he was stripped down to just his normal shinobi pants and sandals; the only other thing he was wearing was a sheen of sweat which glistened over his bare torso. They had been at this for hours, the intense physical exercise enough to even overcome the chill of the late-winter air this high in the mountains. Finally he caught a break as he slid to the ground in an impressive split letting his attacker's fist sail over his head. He grabbed said extended limb before scissoring his legs together along the ground to capture his opponent's legs.

Using the man's large body as leverage he flipped himself around to land firmly on the man's exposed back, mindful of the swords that were strapped there. He still had a grip on the man's arm and pulled it around sharply to hold him in a painful submission hold, one that would allow his teammates to tie him up in that scenario. He smirked but his slight overconfidence got the better of him as the man overpowered his hold with brute force alone and threw Naruto back. Once again he dropped down into a ready stance that would have allowed him to attack or defend but his sparring partner held up a hand.

"That's enough for today Naruto, I think it's about time we go. Yugito been teachin' you some killer moves, it really been helping out yo groove." Naruto just smiled at the compliment, going over to where their gear was stashed and throwing his lightweight training shirt on.

"Alright Bee-sensei, Fuu and Yugito should be finishing up now, we can go swing by them." The large muscled man nodded his agreement, pulling on the rest of his own equipment. He also beamed a little, one of the man's favourite things about Naruto was the sensei title; it made him feel good to impart his knowledge. Much to his displeasure Naruto hadn't quite taken to rap as his first encounter would have him believe. However unlike most he didn't completely dismiss Bee for it either which he was appreciative of.

They jogged out of their training ground towards another further down the mountain where the air was a bit thicker. It had taken Naruto a while to get used to the high altitude that training in Kumo required but once he had he found fighting lower down even easier. He was told it had something to do with oxygen and adjusted dependencies but he wasn't too bothered with the specifics as long as it worked.

One of his favourite training grounds was the one at the very top of the second tallest mountain in Kumo. It was the most peaceful place Naruto had ever visited without any animals of people for ages in any direction. He was surrounded by the chilled air and the fluffy white clouds below him; Fuu also seemed to like it when he took her up there one night. Naruto smiled as he thought of his surrogate sister, the two of them had really bonded in their time in Kumo and he couldn't wait to introduce her to Tayuya.

That name brought him a small frown; it had been six months since he had left Sunagakure and he had yet to hear from Gaara or his girlfriend. He understood that it might be difficult to locate him and that she was on a difficult and dangerous mission but he thought this was long enough. He sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do about it without going back to Suna himself which he wouldn't do. He had promised to return stronger and he didn't believe he was there yet.

That wasn't to say his training wasn't effective; he trained with both Bee and Yugito, after she had warmed up to him of course. Bee would put him through his paces with physical exercise and training his rapidly growing lightning affinity. Yugito would help him with his overall flexibility and his taijutsu; he had managed to incorporate aspects of her very bendy style into his own. They shared the fact that their main style was on all fours a lot of the time due to their respective biju. Both of them would help him with his jinchuuriki specific training, working with Kyuubi's chakra.

He had now mastered the fourth tail, being able to call upon it without losing his mind. The power boost he got during that state was unimaginable; it still hurt like hell afterwards but now that his and Kyuubi's chakras were more in sync there was less damage. Fuu had also begun her training in being a jinchuuriki, taking her first meditative steps into her own mindscape not a week after arriving in Kumo. Chomei's chakra was now steadily flowing through her coils, widening them and vastly improving her already decent reserves for somebody with minimum training.

That wasn't the only area she was trained in; Yugito had practically taken the girl under her wing. She was trained in every element of being a Kunoichi, Yugito's taijutsu mixed with Naruto's ninjutsu and her all-around stamina made her effective. She was still inexperienced and a little rough around the edges but she was advancing quickly much to Naruto's satisfaction. He and Bee helped out where they could, offering tips from their own experiences handling a high-tailed biju but in the end it just seemed Yugito could do more for her.

That wasn't the only way the two had bonded, before too long the girls were inseparable and not long after that Yugito had accepted Fuu calling her Oneesan. Naruto wasn't jealous though, he still got to spend as much time as he liked with his imouto and he enjoyed that time immensely. For as long as he could remember he had wanted a family; he had something like that with Gaara but to have it on this level was indescribable. Gaara would always be his best friend and he could never look at Tayuya like that again so his relationship with Fuu was truly unique.

"Hey guys!" They had slid and jumped down the mountain to the lower training grounds where they found an equally sweaty Fuu and Yugito sitting on a boulder chatting. With a blush Naruto couldn't help but notice the way the sweat shimmered on Yugito's skin, catching the sun. He loved Tayuya with all his heart but he was still a fifteen year old boy and Yugito was a very attractive nineteen years old. He hid his blush as he walked over, waving back to Fuu who had spotted him immediately.

"Hey Oniisan! You missed Yugito-sensei do something awesome!" Naruto just smiled, when training Fuu always called her mentor and surrogate sister sensei, it stopped her associating the harsh training she was put through with her loving sister.

"Oh really? What'd I miss?" He jumped onto the large boulder they were sitting and plopped down next to them, throwing an arm around Fuu's shoulders which she snuggled into.

"She changed into Matatabi, like full on and everything!" Naruto just looked around his gushing sister to a now embarrassed Yugito, a little bit of awe in his eyes.

"Fuu are you sure this wasn't one of Yugito's genjutsus? Remember that one that made you believe you lived on a pirate ship where men could stretch their limbs like rubber?" Fuu just sighed exasperatedly; Naruto would never give that up after she came home excited about it after one training session.

"No, I'm serious." She turned to Yugito in a huff. "Come on Yugito-sensei, show Naruto that awesome flaming cat form!" Said woman just chuckled to herself.

"Fuu is right Naruto, I am able to transform into my biju. Its one of the many perks of being in full control." Naruto's eyes widened at that, honestly he had really thought it was a prank of some kind, but that she could actually transform into the Nibi itself was impressive.

"Wow, okay that's cool. I'd love to see that!" Yugito just shook her head while smirking, gaining Naruto's narrowed eyes.

"I can't do it that often. It takes a lot out of me and Matatabi." Naruto just nodded slowly, a little disappointed before he spun on the boulder to ask in Bee could do it but he had already taken the opportunity to vanish.

"_Hey Kurama, could we do that someday?" _He felt the old vixen shake her head sadly and Naruto frowned. _"Why not?"_

"_**You forget Naruto, half of my chakra is sealed away in the stomach of the Shinigami. Even if you master all of the chakra inside your body that is still only one half of my original power. Without my Yin chakra we could never transform back into myself completely. If you really wanted to, when you reach that level of control you could use my chakra to simply henge into me if you wanted; I guess I might find that flattering." **_Naruto shared a laugh with his tenant; it was a disappointing revelation but it did get him thinking.

"_What's it like to be separated from half of your chakra?" _He felt the shudder from inside of him; it must have been an unpleasant experience to make a creature like the Kyuubi act in such a way.

"_**Not pleasant kit, the damn Shinigami literally dragged it out of my body and it felt like I had forever lost a source of heat in my own body. Still though, even without my Yin I am more powerful than any of my siblings." **_That also made Naruto think, Kyuubi was an incredibly powerful entity, even now; she must have been positively immense before the sealing.

"_It must be very... unbalancing." _He felt her sigh and just decided to drop the conversation that was obviously causing the biju displeasure. _"Sorry, just curious." _He felt her nod before she went quiet, probably slinking off to a corner of his mindscape.

"Uhh Oniisan?" His eyes came back into focus to see Fuu's caramel hand waving in front of his face and he blushed from being caught dazing.

"Sorry, just talking to Kyuubi." He shook his head and looked at Fuu and Yugito again with a smile. "Anyway I would like to see that sometime Yugito, it would be cool." The girl nodded with a small smile, reminding Naruto why it was worth it to befriend the woman. "Anyway Fuu, eventually you should be able to transform into Chomei by yourself, how cool would that be?" The mint-haired girls' eyes seemed to sparkle, not having thought of that. Yugito quickly nipped it in the bud though, not wanting to get the girls hopes up so soon.

"That won't be for a long time Fuu. I had to spend years refining my control over Matatabi's chakra and your biju has more tails so in theory it should be even more difficult. Naruto is only able to do what he does because of the way his seal is designed so unless you get a master fuinjutsu user to alter your seal it's going to be long and hard training ahead of you." Fuu pouted a little, drawing out her puppy-dog eyes without even realizing it and turning to Naruto.

"Oniisan, you know seals right? Could you help me?" Naruto almost wanted to say yes under such a powerful attack from her watery orange eyes but he managed a chuckle.

"I'm a bit too humble to call myself a fuinjutsu master..." He looked away in thought "...but I have been rather neglecting the field and it has always interested me. Hell, after the Fujin no Iki showed me what I could do with it I'm almost surprised I didn't lock myself away for another year to study it." He looked back at Fuu. "I'm going to train myself in sealing more, maybe then I could help you." Fuu beamed brightly, all hint of her puppy-dog eyes gone as she enveloped her brother in a hug. _'After all, how hard could it be to find a fuinjutsu master to train me?'_

* * *

It had been three months since Naruto had thought that fateful line and he cursed himself every day for it. It turned out that fuinjutsu might as well have been a dying art; there was literally no masters of it left except for Jiraiya of the Sannin. Of course all the ones he knew who were proficient on the art lived in Suna, no help there then. He made do with the scrolls he found in Kumo's library which were surprisingly effective. He read as much as he could when he could, absorbing everything with ease.

He had once been told he had an almost unnatural knack for the subject, surprising and surpassing most that tried to teach him. He just simply understood it; how the various arrays worked, how they fit together and what could or couldn't be tweaked. In fact recently, fiddling with already existing seals was a pass time, something he did if he had a spare moment. Already he had managed to increase the power and range of the standard exploding tags Kumo used with only a minor modification.

This action elicited a response from the Raikage, namely to allow him access to many of the older and more valuable sealing scrolls he had in his personal library. This was in exchange for any breakthroughs Naruto made during his stay in Kumo which he was happy to agree to if it gave him more to study and learn. Fuu had once told him it was like he was addicted to the art and Naruto had a hard time arguing with the girl. The feeling he got when he finally unlocked the mysteries of a complex array, or designed one for himself were nearly euphoric.

He also had an ulterior motive to his work, while he enjoyed it for himself he also knew that with the more he learned the better equipped he would be to finally help Tayuya rid herself of the cursed seal. It was one of the many goals that kept driving him forward in finding more and more information. Before he knew it he was standing over Fuu's prone body with her on her stomach on the bed. Her shirt was raised up allowing him to see the intricate and spiraling seal that adorned her right shoulder blade.

He looked it over with a now trained eye, noticing the complex and subtle layering within the seal itself that allowed for the chakra absorption and suppression of the Nanabi. He had been doing this a lot for the last week and the stack of notes building up on the small desk next to him was proof of that. He had promised Fuu that he would adjust her seal to allow more chakra flow and that was exactly what he planned to do. He was just lucky that this wasn't the type of seal that needed a key or he wouldn't have been able to do anything.

As it was he was now in the process of tracing out complicated kanji in specific orders around the so often he would have a trail of them emerging from the rings he created to wind further around her body. Luckily he planned it so he wouldn't have to draw anywhere indecent, he wasn't Jiraiya after all and Fuu was his little sister, even if not in blood. It took almost half an hour with Fuu staying perfectly still and him drawing with his tickling ink brush before he could stand back, a satisfied grin on his features.

He looked around to Yugito and Bee who actually looked rather bored having to wait this long. They were there in case something went wrong, Naruto found it a little insulting that they didn't trust his skills but he was young so he understood their position. He took a deep breath to alert them that he was ready before moving back over to where Fuu was waiting a bit more patiently.

"Alright imouto, I'm ready to do this. If it all goes how I want it to this should increase the rate Nanabi can input her chakra into your system. Not by too much of course, I wouldn't want to hurt you. Even so I figure that isn't going to be the most pleasant of experiences but I have to ask that you try and keep as still as possible while the seal is still completing itself." Fuu nodded, biting her lip out of worry; she trusted her brother but he had told her repeatedly that forcefully expanding one's chakra coils would not be pleasant.

With one last check to make sure absolutely everything was perfect Naruto pulled in a deep breath and channeled chakra to his finger. It took nearly all his chakra control just to manage this but a small blue flame appeared around his digit which he quickly used to inscribe over Fuu's seal. He added some parts that would be needed as well as removing a few others that weren't critical to its integrity. Finally he gave a small flick of his wrist to ever so slightly decrease the size of the swirl at the centre of the seal.

With a burst of chakra from his entire palm all the kanji he had drawn began to writhe over Fuu's body. They snaked inwards in a large circle before they combined into intricate arrays that Bee and Yugito couldn't follow. They were quickly absorbed into the original seal before Fuu let out a gasp of pain as she felt fire enter her blood and travel through her whole body. Naruto put a firm hand on her shoulder, trying to ease her tension as much as he could. A soft yellow glow began to appear over Fuu's body and in the corner of the room Yugito and Bee looked worried, fearing that the Nanabi might have been released.

Naruto just narrowed his eyes, still holding firmly to Fuu's shoulder as the last of the extra seals disappeared under the original and Fuu thankfully slumped back into the bed, yellow glow gone. Naruto smiled kindly down at her; she would probably be unconscious for a few hours but when she woke up she would feel the effects of the altered seal. He also smiled to himself, this was his first step as a fuinjutsu user and he couldn't be happier about it.

* * *

Naruto slid down the banister of the staircase in the Raikage mansion, followed shortly after by Fuu. They both laughed as they slid down the polished wood, ending in small but graceful flips from the two of them. Naruto managed to land in front of a squad that was just now getting back from a mission and stared at him and the mint-haired girl behind him oddly. He just smiled back at them, already knowing who they were thanks to introductions from Yugito.

"Hey Karui, Samui, Omoi, you just get back?" The three older shinobi and kunoichi nodded, Karui with a smile, Omoi with his usual bored look and Samui with her indifferent expression. Despite how she acted around people Naruto knew Samui was a good person at heart, she cared for her teammates and their sensei even though it wasn't obvious from the way she acted.

"Hey Naruto, Fuu. What were you talking to Raikage-sama about?" Naruto just smirked at Karui; she had become a great friend for him, not to mention and excellent sparring partner. She wasn't as skilled with kenjutsu as Bee was so it was good to hone his skills against her making the fights with Bee that little bit easier. Sometimes he would take on Omoi, Samui, and her all at once to get them to somewhat emulate Bee's multiple sword fighting style.

"Not a lot, just returning a scroll I borrowed" Karui just nodded in understanding, Naruto's passion for all things fuinjutsu was legendary by now, some people actually coming to him with jobs of the nature. He was about to continue when all five of them heard an incredibly high pitched squawk coming from the entrance to the Raikage tower. They turned in time to see a rather large falcon burst through the doors quite spectacularly and start to circle around the ceiling.

"Um, shouldn't that be at the bird tower?" The three Kumo shinobi just nodded dumbly staring at the strange sight of the bird circling indoors. Suddenly its lively eyes caught Naruto's body and in a flash it's head swivelled and its wings tilted. Much to Naruto's surprise the bird suddenly came crashing down on him and would have bowled him over without Bee's endurance training. Instead he managed to catch the large falcon with one hand around its neck and the other around its feet.

He immediately noticed the scroll attached to the bird's back and quickly slid it out of the little carrier case it came in. Then to everybody's surprise the bird just up and burst into a small cloud of smoke. After everybody was done coughing and swatting the annoying white cloud away Naruto stared dumbly at the roll of paper in his hand.

"Huh, must've been a summon." Fuu was now behind him on her tippy-toes trying to peak over his shoulder at the scroll. She had grown in the ten months they had been in Kumo but then again, so had Naruto.

"What's it say?" Naruto turned the strange scroll over in his hand, surprisingly finding 'For Shithead' written on the side. His face lit up in a gleaming smile as he looked over the scroll again as team Samui came over to look at it.

"Who's it for?" Naruto kept his grin on his face.

"It's for me." Samui just seemed confused as she read the message on the side, especially after seeing Naruto's grin.

"Then why does it say for Shithead?" Naruto just grinned even wider.

"It's from my girlfriend." Again he got some very strange looks from the three Cloud shinobi; Fuu was more understanding as Naruto had told her a lot about Tayuya. "It was great seeing you guys, I'll catch you around but I'm gonna head home and check out the scroll." Team Samui just shared a collective shrug and nod before brushing past him to climb the stairs he had moments ago slid down. Naruto paid them no mind after that, he simply pulled Fuu onto his shoulders like he used to do and sped off.

"Hey, I'm not a little kid anymore; you don't have to carry me!" Naruto just smirked as he carried on running.

"Oh, and who was it that said it's part of a brother's job to be a taxi service? Anyway I know you love it." Fuu quietened down, he was right; she really did love it when he would do this for her. She was a shinobi-in-training now so she could run quickly but that was nothing compared to Naruto, he was impossibly fast and she liked the wind rushing past her at these high speeds. She noticed he was climbing higher instead of moving towards the house and she smirked, he must have really wanted to get home quickly.

When they reached a point where they could both make out Yugito's house far below them on the mountain Naruto threw his special kunai with deadly accuracy. It struck the side of the house without a sound, Naruto having already completed his silencing seal and adding them to his weapons. A brief tingling across Fuu's skin later and they were outside the house, Naruto already removing the kunai form the wall.

"You know Oneesan hates it when you do that, it leaves marks in the walls." Naruto just shrugged with Fuu still on his back.

"I'll buy her some sashimi later and she'll forget all about it." The girl was addicted to the stuff, it wasn't even funny. Naruto thought he could pack away the food but Yugito was on another level to him entirely. She said it was because he had yet to find his soul mate of foods but he just found her a little weird whenever she spoke like that. Everybody just figured it was because of the cat-like influences she got from Matatabi, and those weren't even the only thing she got.

* * *

_Naruto walked into the house with a smile on his face; bee had been taking it fairly easy today so he wasn't nearly as worn out as usual. He stepped across the threshold, immediately looking for Fuu and Yugito. He was glad the two were getting along even if he and Yugito hadn't quite found common ground after their first day. The woman was just cold to him, she trusted Fuu because she was young and innocent while it wasn't nearly as easy to let Naruto in._

_He wasn't too worried, she would come around eventually; Naruto had once been told that he just had a natural way of bringing people around, of making friends out of enemies. He checked the ground floor and couldn't see them; he was a bit sad as he thought he could use his extra energy to do something with Fuu. He shrugged it off and decided to go find a fuinjutsu scroll to curl up with and study._

_He was suddenly put on alert as he heard strange sounds from upstairs; he rushed up in case it was attackers or burglars. As he approached he once again noticed the strangeness of the sounds, it was like a growling or a moan that sounded bestial but yet was definitely human. The sounds came from Yugito's bedroom and, worrying that she was in danger, he burst through the wooden door. The sight that met his eyes would not have crossed his mind, nor would it leave it, in years._

_Yugito was spread out on her bed, clutching her sheets as her body arched up and down in supposed agony. However the first thing Naruto noticed was the fact that the woman was wearing nothing but her headband. Naruto's eyes nearly shot out of their sockets as he immediately swivelled on his foot, hands already firmly clasped over his eyes._

"_Sorry Yugito, I heard noises and... There were shouts and... I'm sorry!" He tried to stumble out of the room but he heard the pained panting behind him stop and he could almost feel Yugito's eyes boring into his skull._

"_Naruto!" Naruto's eyes opened even further behind his hands as he continued to fumble his way out of the room. "Naruto wait!" He froze mid-step, his mind overloading from that simple statement as he failed to understand what was going on. From what he knew of women they didn't like guys walking in on them like this; that meant she was stopping him so she could punish him._

"_Yugito, I'm sorr-" he was cut off mid-sentence as he felt Yugito's body press up against his back, her very warm, sweaty and naked body. A finger was pressed up against his lips to silence him, not that he could even make a sound as his brain nearly exploded from the contact._

"_Naruto, I need you." Her voice was a mix between a whisper and a moan as she turned him around with her hands and slowly pried his hand away from his face. His eyes were clenched firmly shut; still not knowing what was going on and whether or not it was a test. He just hoped she wasn't like Anko, teasing him only so that she could punish and humiliate him later._

"_Yugito what is-?" Her finger was once again placed sensually against his lips to silence him as she leaned her whole body against him. Naruto gulped loudly as two soft yet firm mounds pressed up against his chest as he idly noticed his pants were becoming tighter._

"_What is it Naruto? Don't you like me?" He just stuttered out something unintelligible, his eyes still closed out of confusion and fear. "Then why won't you look at me?" He just shook his head firmly and he could almost imagine her cute yet convincing pout, filled with sexual energy. "I just need you for a little while Naruto, that's all." Naruto's eye twitched dangerously behind his closed eyelids as he wondered just how many guys would kill to be in this situation with a beautiful woman like Yugito._

_She took his hand and he unintentionally opened his eyes a crack to see what she was doing only to regret it instantly. At that moment she firmly took his hand and planted it right on her ample breast, using her own hands to knead it into the soft flesh. Naruto nearly fainted there and then but a sudden burst of adrenaline had him yank the hand out of her strong grasp, turn promptly and run out of her room. He ran straight out of the house, not stopping for anything or anybody until he reached his training ground where he collapsed to the ground, confusion overtaking him._

* * *

Killer Bee had later explained to him that Matatabi had a certain effect on Yugito on specific days in the month. He compared it to a cat going into heat and Naruto had to agree with his analogy after witnessing it firsthand. Luckily that was exactly the moment that the ice broke between him and Yugito, the two of them becoming good, if not slightyl awkward, friends not too soon after. Of course if Tayuya ever found out he was certain to at least lose a limb so after a long and difficult internal debate of about two seconds he reasoned that it was perfectly natural to have a few secrets.

He and Fuu walked into the house, greeting Yugito warmly when they saw her cooking up some food in the kitchen. She was curious about the scroll in Naruto's hands but he simply explained it was from his girlfriend. The reaction he got was a little strange but he couldn't explain it; Yugito blushed a little before looking away almost guiltily. Naruto usually would have put more thought into it but he was too excited by the message from Tayuya.

He laid the scroll down on the table and opened it up after cracking the fairly poor seal on its front. He smirked as he read the first words: '_Hey Shithead...' _Well that was always a good start.


	36. Chapter 36

_Dear Shithead_

_It's been so long since I've seen you now, I know it's only ten months but it feels like years. Kami how mushy does that sound? I miss you, I know I'm not usually good with expressing my emotions but it feels a bit easier when I write them down. I also want to know just how much you've grown both physically and training-wise but I guess I'll see in a year won't I? Infiltrating Sasori's organisation was a bitch; the man is the most paranoid fucker I have ever met. I even had to cover up my curse mark with make-up so they wouldn't think I had any connections to that pedo. It worked though, I'm in the organisation. It was weird at first, for a supposed S-ranked missing-nin the guy was a fucking moron. It only took me two months to work my way into his inner circle. I am now one of his 'trusted elite'. I've been training hard as well, enough that the man himself thinks I'm too valuable for simple spy work. I am currently doing missions for the Akatsuki, how weird is that? Don't worry, it's nothing major or even related to their main goals and I use every opportunity I get to fuck them over without drawing suspicion. I definitely feel like I'm getting stronger, no details yet, just something you'll have to see later. I want to know how you're doing, what you've been doing, who you've met. Just a friendly warning, if I come back and you've been with another girl I'll rip your nuts off. Just for that though I decided to give you something so you wouldn't forget me, as if that was possible. Anyway, I'm not sure how you're going to send me a reply but you're a resourceful shithead so I know you'll find a way. Speaking of which how did you like the falcon? Badass isn't it? Gaara gave me the summoning contract before I left. It took some getting used to and the boss summon is a total bitch but eventually I slapped them around enough to get what I wanted. I hope you're having fun wherever you are and you're staying safe, I want my boyfriend in one fucking piece when I see him next. Sorry about how long I took to send this, when I said Sasori was paranoid I wasn't fucking kidding; this was the first chance I got on a solo mission. I'm not totally sure how long these stupid things are supposed to be but I guess this works so I'll stop. I miss you Naruto, can't wait to see you again._

_Your smoking hot girlfriend, Tayuya_

A warm smile lit up Naruto's face as he read the message from the girl he loved; it was just so Tayuya that it brought back a lot of warm memories. He also laughed a little at what she wrote at the end, if he didn't know any better she sounded like she was taking after Anko. Naruto almost shuddered at the thought; Tayuya was unpredictable enough without throwing the healthy amount of sadism that was Anko Mitarashi.

He thought about what she said, it seemed her mission was going well which was good, he had worried a lot over that but pointlessly it seemed. It was also good that she was so easily able to get the Akatsuki, or at least Sasori, to trust her. He wondered what types of mission they had her going on; she didn't clarify in the letter so he was curious. He shrugged, thinking it would just be one of the things he could ask when he sent his reply.

He also wondered about that, thinking of just how he could do such a thing; she appeared to have faith in him in that regard. He had a Fujin no Iki seal placed on her of course, one of the more long lasting ones that would last him the training trip. Even so he didn't think just flashing in would be a good idea, especially if she was in a compromising situation. He also didn't know where she was, the jump could be rather large; he still didn't fully understand the limitations of his own jutsu and wouldn't risk chakra depletion.

However he might be able to do it for something like a scroll, just send it along the seal instead of himself. It wouldn't work with his current set up; the entrance seal was on his body and designed for him. He could write out another entrance seal and temporarily connect it to Tayuya's using his own as a base template. His mind began whirling through the various ways he would have to modify it before it ground to halt, realising he still needed something to send through in the first place.

By this point Fuu had snatched the scroll out of her brother's hands in his distracted state, reading it over thoroughly. Naruto had told her a lot about Tayuya and she was rather excited to get her first glimpse of what the girl was like for herself. She couldn't glean all that much from the letter but the girl seemed confident and happy when talking about Naruto and Fuu was glad about that. It was important to her that Naruto was happy and if his girlfriend wasn't good for him then Fuu wouldn't have minded speaking up.

Just then she noticed a small seal at the bottom corner of the scroll that Naruto must have overlooked in his haste. Remembering what Naruto had told her about fuinjutsu she channeled chakra into her hand and placed it against the seal. There was a small poof of white smoke that erupted from the seal which was enough to break Naruto out of his thoughts. He looked over in time to see Fuu holding onto a small stack of Polaroid's, eyeing them curiously before her eyes went wide.

"I'll take those Fuu!" He quickly snatched the photos out of Fuu's hand, looking at her slightly shocked face. When he looked down at the first picture he realised why and his own eyes widened slightly. Tayuya was stood in front of the camera in a pose with her hips slightly out to her right while her left hand was up in a peace sign. Her right hand was clutching her own ass as she bent towards the camera, managing to show off some recently gained cleavage in the tight two-piece red bikini she was wearing.

'_Where did she get that bikini? WAIT! WHO THE HELL IS HOLDING THE CAMERA!" _He found that he was incredibly angry at the thought of somebody else seeing Tayuya like that when the photos were supposed to be for him. He sheepishly looked over at Fuu who still looked a little shell-shocked, holding her hand out like the photos were still in it.

"So that was Tayuya, what do you think?" He had tried to make the question sound casual but failed miserably; Fuu just turned to look at him, somewhat recovering after the silence was broken.

"She seems, um, really pretty." Naruto smiled at her, wrapping an arm around the young girl's shoulders.

"She would be really happy to meet you, I bet the two of you would get along great" Fuu just nodded meekly, her pre-adolescent mind still confused about what she had seen.

"Oniisan, why did she send pictures like that?" Naruto just chuckled nervously, looking over at Yugito in the doorway of the kitchen; she was now looking at them both strangely, or more precisely the photos in Naruto's hand.

"It's a boyfriend-girlfriend thing. You'll understand when you get a little older." Fuu pouted cutely at that, wanting to understand now as all children did when confronted with that line. Yugito now seemed even more interested, walking over and attempting to take the photos from Naruto who skillfully diverted his hand away from her. She tried again and once again Naruto moved his hands out of reach; by now Fuu had gotten over her confusion and slight embarrassment and was just curious. The two girls suddenly ganged up on him in an attempt to get the photos away from him.

That was the scene Bee walked in on, Naruto standing on his toes with his arm in the air with Fuu on his back and Yugito pressed up against his front, also trying to reach for the photos. Bee's eyes widened in surprised, his sunglasses nearly falling off his face at the seemingly compromising position. He walked into the room with years' worth of stealth training and quickly grabbed the photos for himself to see what all the fuss was about. His sunglasses actually did fall off his face when he looked at them, revealing a set of deep chocolate eyes. He laughed and gave an appreciative whistle looking at them.

"Man lil' nine your girlfriend looks mighty fine, even the Killer Bee couldn't keep away from such a honey." He punctuated his rap with arm movements that only made Naruto annoyed; the large man had the gall to flip through the photos when Naruto had only seen the first one. He growled in annoyance and snatched the Polaroid's back before Bee could go through anymore and hurriedly stuffed them into his jacket pocket.

"Viewing times over, those are supposed to be between me and Tayuya." All three of them caught the irritation in his voice and smiled nervously.

"Come on Oniisan, we were just curious. You tell us so much about Tayuya but we've never actually seen her." Naruto just smiled warmly, the irritation melting from his features at his little sister's voice.

"Don't worry Fuu, only a year and then you can see her for yourself." The girl smiled a little at that, still upset that Naruto was hiding the pictures from her and wouldn't explain why. She remembered how the girl in the photo had looked wearing the bikini; she did have to admit the girl was beautiful. She looked down at herself, specifically her chest and wondered why she couldn't look more like that. The other girl actually filled out the bikini she wore but Fuu didn't have anything there; she had once brought the concern up with Yugito but the older jinchuuriki just told her to wait.

Naruto missed her concerned look and made to leave the room, he wanted to write up his reply, worrying about how he would send it later. Before he could though he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Bee standing behind him with his arms crossed.

"Yo nine, I ain't got much time so listen to my rhyme. Bro sent me to tell you that you and little Fuu gotta scadoo." Naruto just looked at his teacher and friend confusedly, wondering what he meant.

"The Raikage is kicking me out of Kumo?" Bee quickly shook his head, not very happy that his rhymes weren't clear enough when in his head they made perfect sense.

"Naw, Bro loves you and little miss seven, having you here is like our own slice a' heaven." That was exaggerating a bit but Bee had trouble with the number seven "You spent too much time here so now you gotta get clear befo' Akatsuki get near. Awww yeah." He finished with his arms crossed over his chest as his head bobbed a little to the beat only he could hear. Naruto just looked downhearted, he realised he would have to leave eventually but he had genuinely enjoyed his time in Kumo, he had made great friends. He had also reached a new level in his training but he was promised by Bee that he would get a few scrolls to further his lightning affinity when he left.

"How long do we have?" Bee just nodded understandingly, his hand on Naruto's shoulder almost protectively.

"Bro says you got a pack up and go before those biju snatchers get ready to blow, he gave ya'll a week until you got sneak and make sure yo rhymes are freak, yeah." Naruto nodded; by now Bee's raps were like second nature to him and he could understand the man better than most.

"Thanks Bee, it was cool hanging around here for so long." He looked over at Fuu with a smile; she also looked sad at their forced departure. "I guess it's time we found somewhere new to make friends imouto, time for a new adventure I guess." The younger girl smiled, Naruto had a habit of getting them out of her even when she was sad.

"What about my jinchuuriki training?" Yugito had stayed silent until now but she knew this departure would be hard on Fuu, if she was honest she didn't particularly like it either, the girl had become almost family to her.

"Don't worry about it Fuu, Naruto's got it down pretty good and he knows what to do to keep improving, I'm sure he'll help you through the next year. Anyway when this is all over me and Bee will still be here to train you." She said it with a reassuring smile that was more pretence and false bravado than anything. Yugito knew better than most that a shinobi's life was uncertain at the best of times but she valued Fuu's innocence. Fuu brightened again at her combined sister, best friend, and teacher comforted her.

"Thanks Oneesan!" She ran over and wrapped Yugito up in a warm hug which made the older girl blush a little before patting her on the back.

"It's alright Fuu, we still have a few days before you and Naruto leave. We'll just have to make the most of them." Fuu nodded energetically, back to her usual cheerful self as she thought of all the things she still wanted to do with her friends in Kumo. Naruto also smiled at the scene, he was definitely going to miss all of this, especially the friends they had both made; Bee, Yugito, Samui, Omoi, Karui, Mabui, and the Raikage.

Bee chose that moment to leave, his message delivered and a large pile of food waiting for him back home. Yugito retired back into the kitchen to finish off what she was cooking while Fuu flopped down on the couch, taking in everything again. Naruto slipped out of the room silently, moving towards his bedroom so he could write up a reply to Tayuya's letter that had caused so much havoc. He walked in and sent down a fresh scroll on his desk, plenty were lying around from his fuinjutsu studies. He grabbed an ink brush, set a smirk on his face and went about writing back.

* * *

Tayuya swung lazily in the hammock she had strung up between two pillars in the small room she had been given. She was smiling, just thinking about various things with her hands back under her head and her long red hair strewn across her eyes. An observant ninja might just spot her ears twitching every now and then as she listened out for early warnings of her soon-to-be arrival. Sasori had sent her to this bunker to meet up with some informant or another, he always sent her because he was too paranoid to go himself.

Tayuya's didn't mind all that much, the bunkers were always nice and quiet; she could think clearly about things here that she couldn't when around her 'boss'. She may have despised Sasori in so many ways ever since they had first been introduced by one of his higher subordinates but that didn't stop the girl from admiring him somewhat. He ran a tight organisation, herself not included, that ran like clockwork. He had a steady stream of informants bringing him information from across the nations where it would filter back up the ranks to him.

The same could not be said for his moron of a partner; when Tayuya was around the two were always bickering like children. It would be over some inane topic like whose art was better or why they were given the task of certain jinchuuriki. That was another reason Tayuya despised Deidara, he was assigned to the Ichibi, Gaara, and she would make sure that would never happen. She would rip off his creepy-ass mouth hands before they could even gasp in surprise.

The first time they had met the man tried to offer her a small sculpture of herself made out of his patented clay. While she admitted it was a good likeness she still didn't want to touch it knowing that the clay came out of mouths in his hands. Sure enough when she did touch it, it was slightly damp and she immediately dropped it. That forced everybody to dive out of the way as the small statue exploded on contact with the ground. Yep, she hated him alright.

That wasn't to say it was all bad, for a lot of the time Tayuya was essentially left to her own devices with some of Sasori's other subordinates not too far away. Unless of course she was specifically set a task or mission like she was currently. She huffed in annoyance, the informant was supposed to be here already and the generally damp of the bunker was getting on her nerves. She stood to stretch her neck a little but as she did so she felt her hip warm up suddenly. It felt tingly like whenever Naruto would use the Fujin no Iki on her.

To her surprise a scroll suddenly just popped into existence to her side and on reflex she caught it. Glancing at the scroll briefly she lifted up her shirt to the side to see why he had felt strange. She caught the complicated seal right before it faded back into her skin, unseen again. _'Shithead you sneaky bastard, I didn't even notice you put that on me.' S_he smirked to herself, when she had written that he would find a way she hadn't expected it so soon. Her summon had only returned yesterday to tell her the message was received by a spiky blonde haired kid she had described.

She looked down at the scroll again and giggled uncharacteristically; she couldn't help being excited at the first word from her boyfriend in ten months. She was curious as to what he had been up to, the training trip had sounded interesting before he even left and Tayuya had to admit she was a little jealous. Without more delay she rushed over to a nearby raised platform and laid the scroll out, pulling a candle over for better light.

_Dear Tayuya-chan_

_I'm glad you finally wrote, I was getting worried that something had happened on your mission, not that I didn't think you would do well but I care about you and I can't help but worry. You're right about the time feeling much longer than it is, but I think your photos will help me keep going, thanks for those by the way, they caused a lot of trouble when I unsealed them. I guess I should answer your questions first. Yeah you're right, it's weird that you're practically working for Akatsuki, I know it's all undercover but it's still strange to think about. I'm glad you're doing so well and happy that you're causing trouble for Akatsuki, that always helps! The falcon summon was cool but I swear it was trying to gouge my eyes out when it delivered your letter. I guess I should fill you in on what's happened so far. When I left Suna I went to Takigakure, there I met another jinchuuriki, Fuu. She's younger than us, twelve now that her birthdays gone by and she took to me well. She's like a little sister now and I can't wait for you to meet her, you'll love her as much as I do, I know it. After that we both went to Kumo and made even more friends, I met the Raikage, he's huge! There's Bee-sensei, he raps a lot but he's a good teacher and helped me with my lightning affinity and controlling Kyuubi's chakra. Oh that's another thing, Kyuubi has a name, Kurama; how strange was it that I didn't know that? Next there's Yugito, she helped Fuu with her own training and we became friends as well, both of them are jinchuuriki too! I never thought I would meet so many. There's also Samui, Omoi and Karui, they're fun to hang out with but really good shinobi as well. Kumo's a lot different from home but it's got its good parts, I miss you and the familiar deserts though. I'm not sure what else to write because I want to tell the rest to you personally. I really hope my reverse Fujin no Iki worked otherwise all this writing will have been for nothing. I guess I'll find out in your next letter, can't wait!_

_The one and only, Naruto Uzumaki_

Tayuya grinned at the letter; it was good to hear from Naruto again, even if it was just in letter form. She noticed the small seal pressed tightly into the bottom of the scroll and quickly flashed her chakra through it. She was a little disappointed when only a single photo emerged; she had hoped for something more like what she sent him but she figured it wasn't really Naruto's style. She peered at the photo in the dim candlelight and smiled softly when she realised it was a group shot.

She could plainly see Naruto in the middle, flanked by a load of people Tayuya had never seen before. She was surprised at how much Naruto had grown in the brief time he was away, his face seemed thinner and more defined and the spikes in his hair were longer, as were his usual bangs. In front of him was a younger girl Tayuya immediately figured was Fuu, she smiled at the warm way Naruto held her shoulders, both smiling into the camera.

Behind him was the only person she could think of to be Naruto's sensei, she marvelled for a few moments at how large the man was as well as how powerful he seemed to be, even in 2D. To his right was a girl Tayuya took a shot at as Yugito and she immediately scowled at how close the girl was to Naruto. She trusted her blonde boyfriend but she wasn't really experienced at controlling jealousy and felt a wave of possessiveness.

She scowled even deeper when she looked to Naruto's right and saw the blonde-haired girl between her two teammates, she didn't know if it was Samui or Karui but she didn't like her. She sulked as she looked down at her own chest; while it wasn't anything to be ashamed of it wasn't near the blonde girl's impressive bust. Other than that though she had to feel happy that Naruto had made some friends and even a sister in his time away. From the sounds of it he was also getting stronger and she hoped to pit herself against him when they next met.

She was pulled from her thoughts as something fluttered down from the group photo, a single smaller Polaroid which she quickly caught. Flipping it over she grinned at what she saw _'That's more like it Naruto, I'll admit the orange looks good on the swimming trunks.'_ Her sensitive ears picked up the sounds of somebody entering the bunker and she quickly threw both photos and the scroll into her duffel bag over in the corner. She turned back just as the lanky dark-haired informant ducked into her room.

"It's about time you showed up, like Master Sasori I hate being kept waiting. Now I understand I was called here because you had some information on the civil war in Kirigakure?"

* * *

"So where are you guys going to go?" Naruto stood at the gates of Kumo next to Fuu as they looked at the friends they had made. It was Yugito who asked the question and even Fuu seemed interested as she turned her head. Naruto just rubbed the back of his head and looked at the sky, one cloud in particular catching his attention as it lazily drifted along.

"I dunno really, I guess I had a lot of time to think about it. I think I'm going to go down to Wave Country." Everybody assembled looked at him curiously and it was Karui who voiced their shared thoughts.

"Why the hell would you go there? They don't even have a shinobi village, what could you possibly hope to learn?" Naruto shrugged absently which riled up the dark-skinned redhead; he had gotten slightly laid back during his time in Kumo. His reflexes and alertness were still as sharp as ever but his attitude as a whole had really calmed down, mostly thanks to Yugito's intervention. In all he had rather mellowed out from the hyperactive boy he had been a few years ago.

"I had a mission there once to observe a Konoha genin team. They were protecting some bridge-builder from the local tyrant. He had the entire island under his thumb and the people were pretty destitute, living out of what could barely be called houses. On that mission we killed the tyrant because he would have killed the team we were observing otherwise. I wanted to go and see how the place was doing as well as pay my respects to someone I met there." Everybody nodded to his answer; it wasn't training but a personal reason.

"After that, I dunno. Konoha's pretty close to Wave so I guess I could drop in with Tsunade, see what's happening." Fuu seemed excited by that, she had read a lot in Kumo and was excited to be visiting the greatest of the shinobi villages, even if Naruto didn't seem entirely comfortable with the idea himself. He knew that personal feelings had to be put aside though so that he could further his training. It would also be pretty good to drop in on Anko and Hana after a year, see if they still even remembered him. He chuckled to himself; he figured he had made a pretty deep impression.

They waved their goodbyes as Fuu hugged each and every one of them, even earning the smallest of smiles from the stoic Samui. Pretty soon they were away from Kumo, heading back towards the coldness of the Land of Frost that was the only way out of Lightning Country to the south. He wasn't exactly looking forward to another trek through the snow but he gritted his teeth and walked anyway. He stopped at the edge of a forest and turned to Fuu with a grin.

"Are you ready?" the girl nodded excitedly and he just smiled before both of them leaped into the trees, at least this time their journey would be shorter.

* * *

Naruto smiled as he looked out over the bridge, he remembered it being big from his last visit but this just reaffirmed it. He felt proud to have seen so many national monuments in his short time, the Hokage monument, Suna's walls, Kumo's tower, Taki's tree and now this. When they had left it had still been incomplete but now it stood in all its glory for the word to see.

"The Subarashī suna no rōpu bridge. It's kind of fitting I guess." Fuu didn't know what Naruto was talking about; she was too busy gawking at the immense piece of masonry before her.

"It's so big!" Naruto just chuckled and ruffled Fuu's hair, making her grumble before they walked down onto the bridge itself. Naruto was happy to see various stalls set up along its length with various vendors peddling their goods to passersby. They seemed to be doing well which made Naruto feel happy he could have helped in this. Technically it was Gaara who killed Gato but Naruto would have done it in a heartbeat if his friend hadn't beaten him to it.

Further into the nation they could tell that Naruto's earlier assessments were correct and Wave was positively booming with business. People roamed the streets with smiles on their faces and fear out of their hearts. Their oppression had been lifted and children were happily running through the streets as opposed to being forced to beg at their sides. Naruto still remembered that little girl Ageha who was begging for food when they had arrived in Wave. He had given her his rations for the next few weeks knowing that he could always hunt for more food.

He idly wondered what had become of her, if she was among these playing kids enjoying her youth or was he too late? He shook his head of the thoughts, he knew as a shinobi he couldn't save everyone but he could always try his best and that was what was important. He smiled at Fuu who just looked at him oddly, wondering what her older brother was thinking about as they moved through the seaside town.

"Come on, we should go find an inn or something to get rooms for the night." Fuu nodded her head in agreement but her stomach growled out its disapproval, they hadn't eaten since lunch and even Naruto was feeling his stomach ache. "Right after we get something to eat" Fuu nodded more graciously this time as Naruto led her to the port, there were always a few restaurants around there for the sailors.

Naruto checked out the potential restaurants, trying to find something that caught his eye. Fuu on the other hand was distracted; she was intently watching a single dragonfly as it zipped around her head hypnotically. She had a smile on her face as she merely observed the nimble insect, finding calmness through its seemingly erratic movements. When it zipped off it just returned before zipping off in the same direction. It actually repeated this a few times and Fu watched, fascinated as the insect seemed to want her to follow it.

Temporarily forgetting about Naruto she lazily followed the insect; she was still alert and wouldn't stay to far from Naruto but something about the dragonfly caught her attention. She followed it along the pier a bit until it stopped above a simple, unassuming boat. It hovered above its metal deck just zipping to and fro but never leaving its confines. By now Fuu was positively enraptured by it's seemingly thought out movements, they looked so precise and agile.

With a single hop she was up on the deck of the ship, her feet making the barest of clangs against the weather-beaten metal. Before she could reach out and try to ensnare the fast insect she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She looked around quite suddenly to see Naruto staring at her with a stern expression. She immediately looked down guiltily, she had run away from him and he must have been worried and come found her.

"Fuu, what do you thi-?" Naruto couldn't get any farther, he had let down his guard in Fuu's absence, caution replaced by panic and now he was paying for it. Without any drama he felt something strike the back of his head before his vision went funny and he blacked out.


	37. Chapter 37

"What do you mean you lost him?" The voice held no irritation or anger, it was as unemotional and impassive as the face and body that conveyed it, however distorted by the hologram-like effect.

"I apologise Leader-sama, we were trailing the boy through the Land of Waves when he suddenly dropped off our radar. Ever since the Kyuubi jinchuuriki departed Kumogakure his abilities to suppress his own chakra have become commendable; I believe it has something to do with seals. Even so we should not have lost him completely like this, it is now more than likely he has vacated the country and we cannot do anything further without knowing where he ends up." The impassive holographic figure just stood, staring into space with his ringed eyes as he thought.

"Very well, this setback is nothing too important. We still have a year and a half before the plan is set in motion properly and to that effect I will have Sasori devote some of his resources to relocating the Kyuubi. As for you two it would be against logic to put your talents to waste so I'm tasking you with locating the Nanabi jinchuuriki. She was one of the ones planned for initial early capture yet she seems to have disappeared almost similarly to the Kyuubi." Both Itachi and Kisame bowed deeply to the hologram.

"Of course Leader-sama, we won't fail you." The man merely narrowed his eyes, the already intimidating sight gaining some credibility.

"See that you don't." The hologram promptly faded from view leaving both Akatsuki members alone in the cavern just off the coast of the Land of Waves. Kisame let out a loud sigh of relief, he was a fierce opponent but the leader always freaked him out. Every member of the Akatsuki knew what he could do and nobody was willing to pit themselves against that.

"How the hell are we supposed to track down the Nanabi? Isn't that something better suited for Zetsu or Sasori?" Itachi sent a cold gaze at his partner; he liked to think his patience was extensive but the unobtrusive man tended to grind on the ex-ANBU captain.

"Sasori is not the only one with contacts Kisame now shut up and let's go. We might as well look around Takigakure for a lead." Kisame just nodded at his partner, his shark-like grin never leaving his face for a moment, it was almost painted on.

* * *

For a brief moment, as his eyelids fluttered from the flash of lighting out of a window, Naruto wondered if this was what being drunk felt like. His head was fuzzy and unfocused, he couldn't really control his limbs in the way he wanted and he had a splitting headache that was threatening to force him back into unconsciousness. He groaned, alerting the silhouette of a man who had been watching over him to his awakening.

"Huh, the kid's up already. Figured you'd be out longer with a blow like that, even if you are a shinobi." Naruto's eyes took a moment to focus on the man, once he stepped out of the shadow in the corner of the room anyway. He managed another incomprehensible groan before his head flopped back down again. He felt weak and cold and he couldn't explain it, his body was heavy and unresponsive and he couldn't even feel his chakra flow.

"W-What's going on?" His speech was just slightly slurred from his dazed state and the man standing across from him just laughed at his poor attempt.

"That's the least of your worries now kid. You should be more concerned with what's already happened." Naruto was still confused and not completely focused so he just ended up staring at the man oddly which only caused him to laugh even more.

"You shinobi and your fucking chakra, without it you're barely anything at all are you?" Naruto's eyes desperately tried to gain focus as he looked down at himself; he quickly realised he was tightly bound to a pillar-like structure in a room that was swaying. He came to the conclusion he was on a boat and the movement of the ocean was doing nothing to help his dizziness. "Don't try to channel one of your precious techniques; that seal on your arm almost completely cuts you off from chakra. It's based off the thing they use in Hozukijo prison."

Sure enough Naruto looked around and saw a complex seal around his arm that looked strangely like a chain. It explained where the nausea and general weakness were coming from, as somebody with naturally high amounts of chakra he was used to it constantly flooding his system, now he was receiving severe withdrawal symptoms. It was almost like chakra exhaustion without the sweet release of unconsciousness and it was drawn out.

"Where's Fuu?" It was the first coherent thought that made it to his mouth and he almost seemed to gargle through it. The large man only chuckled, looking toward the door of the fairly small cabin they were both in.

"The little brat with the funky hair colour? Oh she's long gone." Naruto's eyes narrowed as he felt his blood boil. Even with the seal in pace he could feel Kyuubi's chakra practically writhing behind the barrier that had been suddenly placed upon it, begging for release.

"What did you do to her?" Naruto coughed up blood as the man's steel-toed boot promptly met the side of his face sending waves of pain through his body.

"Getting a little forward aren't we? You're in no position to be talking to me like that kid. The only reason you're even alive is because we wanted to see if you have some kind of bounty on you." The room fell silent again as Naruto checked to see he hadn't lost any teeth while the man returned to his corner although his smirk was still visible. "If you must know I assume she's on one of the slave ships bound for Water Country. People that take a ride on those tubs don't ever come back." He was positively grinning now which made Naruto bite down his angry outburst.

Somebody finally entered the room through the small cabin door and the man's grin turned a bit more business-like; the barely hidden glee was still visible though. The new arrival quickly handed the man before him a small leather-bound book before quickly departing, never even glancing at Naruto once. The first man just idly flicked through the book, taking time to compare certain photos with the blonde before him until he reached the last page.

"Well well, seems that there isn't a single mention of you anywhere. Either this book is outdated or you're a shitty ninja, either way you have no further use to me." He clapped once and instantly a few more men, sailors by the looks of it hurried into the room, quickly untied Naruto and slung him between them. Normally Naruto would have tried to struggle or escape but he felt constantly exhausted with the seal placed on him. Right now the blonde had difficulty speaking, never mind coming up with a decent strategy for escaping that required he overpowered three burly men without the use of chakra.

The rain stung and slashed at his face as the men carried him out onto the metal deck that overflowed with water. A storm was brewing high overhead and in the distance the ominous crashes of thunder could be heard. Below them the sea churned and boiled in petulance for the sky upstaging it and it attempted to relive its anger on the small boat. The sailors seemed unfazed, going about their business and maintaining the ships course with a practised ease.

Naruto was more concerned with the fact they were carrying him closer to the edge of the ship, closer to the thrashing waves that gleamed from a lightning strike almost in anticipation. Without more than a word the men dumped Naruto's body unceremoniously into the swirling void of the sea, the salty waters swallowing him instantly. With fervour and panic Naruto tried to get his body to respond enough to swim upwards. It was fruitless, he was too drained and he couldn't use his ninja techniques.

He had managed to grab a lungful of air before his hasty departure so at least he wasn't sinking too far. However he was still at the unbidden mercy of the tumultuous seas, tossed around like a piece of kelp trapped in an eddy. Naruto's lungs began to burn from the lack of oxygen reaching his body and in one last attempt he kicked his legs wildly. With an enormous gasp for air the resilient blonde resurfaced and panted, using his barely functional legs to keep him afloat as long as he could.

He looked around but it was a little difficult to spot anything with the storm raging on around him and the darkness of the light. He thought he spotted some kind of land mass off in the distance but he could have been imagining it. He kicked a few more times but his energy was finally completely drained. At that moment a larger-than-normal wave grabbed onto Naruto, pulling him with it as he was tugged towards shore by some invisible force.

It was almost as if the water had a grip on his body and was actually bringing him somewhere, his usually curious mind left the question blank as he continued to struggle for even the smallest breaths of oxygen he could manage. He felt his eyelids droop and there couldn't have been a worse moment for his body to catch up to him. Darkness encroached on his vision even as bubbles and swirling blue waters rushed over his head, completely blocking out the light of the storm above.

* * *

Fuu once again fought the urge to struggle against the itchy bindings that kept her hands from being used. Naruto had long ago told her how to escape such poorly made ties but that wasn't her problem; that lay in the twenty or so men that stood as escort, slowly marching the small group of people through the silent forest. She had a heavy canvas bag over her head which made it both difficult to breathe and hear, a few of her fellow prisoners had already passed out a few times.

Before she had been sufficiently bound and covered she had managed to see a fair few of the others branded with some kind of chain-like seal which seemed to block off their chakra. She had only been spared because nobody even suspected she had any training as a shinobi, mostly under the assumption that because she didn't wear a headband she wasn't a shinobi. She had actually been offered a forehead protector in Kumo but Naruto had declined for her, only telling her that he had a surprise for her later.

She didn't realise that it would save her life like it had now, as it was she was able to easily keep up with the rather mediocre pace the slavers, or whoever they were, set. She had been slowly loosening the rope around her wrist to the point where with a single flick of her wrist they would fall to the ground. She figured it would be best to escape from these men before they reached wherever it was they were going.

These were just foot-soldiers, that much was obvious; just grunts to carry out the menial labour. There was surely somebody more powerful behind an operation like this, especially somebody who had access to seals as complex as something she might have seen Naruto working on. Her thoughts drifted to her brother; she had seen him get knocked out on the boat because he let down his guard, all because of her.

She had fallen for the simplest of genjutsu used to lure in potential targets and incapacitate them before they even knew what was happening. She had fallen for it hook line and sinker and now she didn't even know where Naruto was. She knew he would come for her, he was her brother and the first person to ever truly show her kindness, and to such a degree that she wouldn't have thought imaginable before.

Even through her confidence though she had nagging doubts; because of her incompetence her Oniisan might be dead, or sealed with that mark and in a similar situation to her own. For all she knew he was in the very same group as her, equally bound and restrained. It didn't seem likely to her, the Naruto she knew would have already found a counter for the seal, broken his bonds and dealt with all the guards present before even one of them could mutter 'what?'

Her head fell forward again, she was useless in comparison. Even if she escaped these bonds and her captors she could do nothing for these poor people in the same situation. Beneath the canvas bag her eyes hardened until the orange of her irises encroached on a menacing red. She wouldn't let her brother down like that; abandoning all these people to their fates would make her no better than the people currently leading them further into the forest.

A grin formed on her impish features as a plan began to circulate her mind, a mind slowly moulded into one of a dangerous prankster by the Kyuubi jinchuuriki himself. It was surprising what the practical applications of a simple prank could do. Planning, organisation, forethought, skill; all requirements to pull of the perfect prank, or in her case, the perfect escape.

* * *

Naruto's eyes refused to obey him, no matter how much he sent the mental command to the muscles in his face his eyelids wouldn't lift. He was being carried, that much was obvious from the strange orientation of his body and the slight bobbing motion of his carrier's gait. He had woken up a few minutes ago, actually moderately surprised that he wasn't dead, unless this was the afterlife, in that case it sucked.

The last thing he remembered was the sight of the waters overtaking his head as he slowly drifted down into the crushing depths of the ocean. It would appear somebody either saw fit to rescue him, which would make him curious to their intentions, or he had the good luck to wash up on a shore somewhere; he had an inkling it was the former. Naruto and good luck just didn't mix, his mission history was testament to that fact, unless of course it concerned gambling, then it was a whole different story.

Giving up on his eyes for now he focused on the more pressing matter of the seal on his arm blocking his chakra. It was no wonder he felt so positively drained, he couldn't access his countless reserves at all, not a drop. Not even the Fox's chakra could breach this rip-off of a prison sealing jutsu. Naruto knew all too well of Hozukijo prison and their infamous sealing technique, it had been an area of rapt study during his time in Kumo. He only hoped that it came without the small clause of incinerating the subject if the applier got too far away.

He groaned without meaning to, the feeling of emptiness inside of him so foreign and unnatural that he had the urge to throw up. His saviour, or kidnapper as the case might turn out, stopped and quickly set Naruto down against a tree, checking him over again after the groan. With a great deal of effort Naruto's eyes managed to finally grind open and stare blurrily into the face of the man who saved him.

It took a moment for his features to come into focus but Naruto could see a face with eyes weary of battle, one with a large scar running vertically through it. He had a well-groomed beard that curved around to almost form a moustache and the rest of his features were masked by a hood. He wore a Kirigakure headband which thankfully did not bear the slash of a missing-nin, although with the Mist's reputation that still might be bad for Naruto.

"Are you alright?" There wasn't much sympathy or compassion in the man's voice; he asked more to make sure that carrying him all this way hadn't been a waste of time. Naruto nodded in response, standing after a moment to deal with his dizziness and the lack of chakra.

"Where am I?" His voice was hoarse and dry and the man who had saved him quickly pulled out a canteen of water which Naruto happily drank.

"We are currently on route through the Land of Water to one of the outlying bases so that somebody can assess you so that my superiors can make a decision regarding your future." Naruto gulped a little, it didn't sound all that friendly and he had to wonder what these 'bases' were used for. As if reading his mind the grizzled man just continued. "I am a part of the current rebel forces that are seeking to overthrow our tyrant of a Kage, Yagura." He spat the name quite literally into the damp grass beside him.

Naruto just took in the information, he was now in Water Country somehow; he knew it wasn't too far from Wave but it was still a long way off. Not only that but he had managed to stumble right into the middle of a civil war that would determine the fate of the Land of Water for years. Nope, Naruto and luck just didn't fit together; his eyes widened in realisation.

"Fuu." It was a harsh whisper as his throat was still parched but the man seemed to understand the sentiment behind the cry.

"I'm sorry but I did not detect anybody else out in the waters, you were lucky I was even able to find you at all. Maybe you should thank Mei-sama for tasking me with a mission so close to the coast." Naruto didn't know who Mei was but he was certainly going to thank them graciously. His head fell as he absorbed what the man had told him; that Fuu hadn't been with him. He already knew that in a way, the men who had placed the seal told him she was on a different ship. As if he could once again read Naruto's mind the older man calmly spoke up.

"I wouldn't be worried; if your friend was also taken by the thugs then they are most likely in captivity on their way to one of the slave camps dotted around the country. Our organisation runs raids on them occasionally to put Yagura off-balance, there is a small probability that they could be recovered." Naruto's eyes hardened into slits; once he got this damn seal off then he would go after Fuu himself, corrupt Kage be damned.

"My name is Tsurugi by the way, if you are able to move then I suggest we get going again. It is unwise to be standing around so idle while not in the safety of our bases." Naruto just nodded, taking a shaky first step forward before he managed to get his bearings and jogged after Tsurugi. It was infuriating not being able to use his chakra to bounce through the trees like he normally would. Without it he was forced to rely on his rather unresponsive and sluggish muscles which by a civilian's standard was still fast, but this was the pace academy students in Suna could move at.

"I must ask because I am curious, why did those thugs attack you and brand you with the seal only to throw you overboard?" They had been running in silence for a while now, Naruto having to rely on the other man to lead him through unfamiliar territory. "As far as I am aware they save that seal for the bloodline users they manage to capture in order to subdue them, do you hold a bloodline?" Naruto shook his head as he ran and almost laughed to himself; he carried something very different in his blood.

He had noticed that as well, without his chakra acting as an intermediary between them Kyuubi hadn't said a word since he woke up. He figured he probably wouldn't be able to access his mindscape either until the damn binding came off and that was why he had spent the last hour studying his arm and figuring out ways of countering or removing it. He used to be a veritable stamina powerhouse, now without a single drop of chakra coursing through him he found even this distance beginning to wear on him.

"No, I do not know why they targeted me or Fuu but I think she may have been in some kind of genjutsu that lead her away from me onto their boat. They knocked me out and when I woke up the seal was already on me, when they found out I wasn't in the bingo books they threw me overboard. It was probably so they didn't have another mouth to feed, plus I would have caused them a lot of trouble." He smirked a little at that, no bonds had ever held him for very long and this seal would be no different.

"Strange, it isn't like the thugs under Yagura's employ to get rid of such an ideal prisoner, shinobi or not. Perhaps this speaks of instability within their ranks; I will have to inform Mei-sama of this when we return." Naruto just sighed as the man picked up his paced, forcing Naruto to drag his weary and lethargic body after him. They stopped a short while later much to Naruto's thanks, although he couldn't work out the reason.

They had branched off from the main path a while ago and had been steadily making their way through scrubland for the past hour. Tsurugi just seemed to stop at random, searching with his eyes for something Naruto couldn't see because he didn't know where to look. Finally the other man's eyes settled on a small yellowed rock that seemed a little out of place amongst its brothers. He picked it up revealing the seal on the flipside which he quickly poured chakra into.

Before them the ground opened up with a dull groan of rock and earth parting to reveal a rough-hewn staircase leading down into what Naruto guessed was the rebel base. Tsurugi wasted no time in pushing Naruto down the steps before himself following, sealing the exit behind him as torches flared into life on either side. Naruto looked down the long passageway that had been opened to them and groaned. _'More walking.'_

* * *

The small convoy had stopped for the night; even slavers knew that running their prisoners into the ground wasn't exactly beneficial and they needed rest as well. They slept while a smaller contingent of five thugs watched the prisoners, rotating in shifts ever few hours or so. In that time Fuu had managed to subtly move around the clearing that the prisoners were resting in, spreading her plan to all who would listen. In that time she had also managed to find out more about just what was going on.

Most of these people were bloodline users, or at least had been until their chakra was sealed away. They had been rounded in up in a sort of purge ordered by Kirigakure's Mizukage himself and ordered into various slave-camps dotting the nation. Fuu had been disgusted by this, it was the highest form of xenophobia and bigotry she could think of, almost reminiscent of the way jinchuuriki are treated.

Apparently the Mizukage feared the power of the bloodline users, becoming paranoid in his reign. The village was already known as the 'Bloody Mist' village by then but Yagura's reign only made it worse. At first it was minor things; a family member disappearing from their house, a few establishments burned down 'accidentally'. Soon enough through it was a nation-wide hunt for anybody with even a trace of a bloodline. That of course led to rebellion when the bloodline users and those that sympathized found out what was going on.

That was almost three years ago now and the civil war still rages seemingly endlessly for those involved. With each passing story of families being tor a part and clans being hunted down to the last man woman or child Fuu's blood boiled hotter. It only hardened her resolve as she stealthily moved about, quickly informing everybody of her plan. There were a few people waiting with bated breath for the guard to rotate their shifts and even more feigning sleep.

Finally the moment came and the guards came out to relieve their companions, this now gave them a few hours before the prisoners would be checked on again and without further delay Fuu began. It wasn't a particularly complicated plan, as a matter of fact it was pretty simple but sometimes the simplest of plans are also the best. As soon as the retiring guards were out of earshot Fuu stood up calmly, attracting the newer guard attention.

"Sit back down bloodline scum!" Fuu just smirked, calmly standing despite having her arms supposedly bound. _'This better work, I can't really take chances with these people's lives.' _This was it, months of training and it had boiled down to a make or break moment like this. The guards sneered at her defiance, storming over with intent to beat it out of her. Fuu waited until he was close before she took a deep breath and let them loose.

Two wings sprouted from her back, tinged light green and translucent like a dragonfly's. They astounded everybody, guards and prisoners alike; Fuu had only told them she would provide the distraction, she didn't say what it would be. Her guards' momentary hesitation was all she needed and with a mighty flap from her wings her feet left the earth and took to the skies. Once airborne she finally loosened the ropes around her wrists and rubbed them gingerly.

"Why doesn't she have the seal!?" She smirked at the guards' panicked reactions; they ran around like headless chickens, without the training to adapt to such a strange situation. Their disorder was exactly what she needed as she took a deep breath and all the prisoners ducked down, shielding their eyes. With her lungs expanded to capacity Fuu let it all out at once, spreading a fine golden dust across the sky.

The particles caught all available light from the moon and the campfires, dispersing it with such increased intensity that most of the thugs griped their heads in pain. Fuu just smirked from above them in the sky; she whistled loudly, an ear-splitting sound that pierced the night sky and let all the prisoners know it was time to escape. They rushed to their feet and took off in the direction away from the guards' camp. Fuu figured getting away was the priority, finding somewhere to actually go could come later.

The thugs were still on the ground with their hands clasped over their eyes or rubbing them furiously to get their vision back. Fuu knew they would be out of commission for about five minutes; she had never permanently blinded anybody with the powder she produced. Still in the air she flew after the fleeing prisoners, making sure to leave behind a few surprises for when the other guards caught up. He wings fluttered so fast they just appeared to be blurs as they kept her thin body afloat in the air.

She couldn't help but be intoxicated, ever since she found out about her half-transformation she had tried to be in the sky as much as possible. The only problem was- Fuu felt herself dip to one side suddenly as her balance was thrown off before her body jerked back upright. Suddenly the same thing happened on the other side before she quickly flew down in a less-than-graceful display to land on a branch before she completely lost control. Flying was difficult.

Her wings weren't a constant thing like Naruto's tails or ears; they were merely things she could summon on a whim without any ill-effect from Chomei's chakra. The problem was using them was exhausting; it became easier each time but she was still left with burning shoulder blades and an aching back. She rushed through the trees, not finding it hard to catch up to the fleeing prisoners considering they were deprived of their chakra.

They were all resting in a clearing when she caught up; apparently even a short run was now difficult for the bloodline users. The only benefit of the seal was that it suppressed their chakra from detection meaning only Fuu had to actively block her own. It wasn't too difficult because flying always took it out of her and Naruto had already taught her the importance of masking it, especially as a jinchuuriki with so many people after them. She dropped down from a branch, surprising many of the people there who, without their chakra-enhanced senses, felt rather vulnerable.

"Okay, who knows where we can go to get those seals off of you?" She was kind of annoyed with herself for not thinking past this point, as were a few of the people in the clearing if their faces were anything to go on. Luckily she was saved from embarrassment when a man wearing strange earrings, a Kirigakure headband and an eye patch with light blue hair resembling a shark-fin put his hand up.

"I know somewhere we can go."

* * *

Before Naruto stood an amazingly attractive woman; her flowing auburn hair cascaded down her back and was split into four bangs at the front, two covering an eye while the others framed her face down to her cleavage. She wore a grey flak jacket over a dark blue shirt and blue and grey camouflage pants with dark black boots. She gave off the air of a powerful and experienced military leader and Naruto knew he was looking at the leader of the Kiri rebellion, Mei.

"Tsurugi, who the hell is this?" Naruto felt a large bead of sweat form over his temple; she certainly didn't speak like an accomplished commander.

"Mei-sama, I rescued this boy off of the coast. He bears the seal of those bloodline users captured by Yagura." The tall woman looked over Naruto only once, preferring to stare at the map in front of her which seemed to detail the lands outlying Kirigakure.

"Sorry kid, we don't have any seal masters. Nobody here can remove that for you." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the implication; he also didn't like being constantly referred to as a kid.

"I don't need one, I could remove it myself if I could access my chakra. All I need I for somebody to channel their chakra into a seal I draw." Mei suddenly lost interest in the map in front of her, turning to stare at Naruto with a smouldering gaze.

"What's your name kid?" Naruto's eyes twitched again but he kept his cool like he had practised for so long.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Mei's eyebrow raised in surprise before she covered up the display of emotion.

"Uzumaki? Have you ever heard of somebody named Kushina Uzumaki?" Naruto shook his head slowly.

"Sorry, I've never heard of her." Now he was rather intrigued, this woman said the name like she might have been family; Naruto had never known anything about his family before. Mei just seemed disappointed by the revelation. "Sorry, I've never known anything about my family; I was an orphan before I could even remember things." Mei just nodded sadly, orphans were a common sight now in the Land of Water, it was one of the reasons she fought so hard.

"Kid, if you get that seal off could you do it for others?" Naruto nodded while Mei's eyes lit up in joy. "Perfect, then what are we waiting for?"


	38. Chapter 38

Naruto finished the last brushstroke over the seal in front of him; with a quick infusion of his own chakra the seal glowed brightly and quickly dissolved before taking the one below it as well. At first he had underestimated the complexity of the seal he had been working on, nearly killing himself in the process, luckily the rebels had a skilled medic on hand that prevented him from doing do. After that he had fixed his mistake and with some help from Mei he had successfully removed the seal from his own arm.

However unlike all the people he went on to help afterwards he didn't completely remove the seal; he merely deactivated it. He did so because he found one aspect of the seal to be strange, instead of nullifying his chakra completely like it's counterpart in Hozukijo it merely prevented a shinobi from using it. The chakra was still there, swirling beneath the surface like a dammed river, Naruto just couldn't mould it. If he used it for training purposes then he could expand his own reserves while at the same time learning not to be so dependent of his chakra in case something like this happened again.

"Thanks kid." The man he had been working on stood up and flexed his muscles to get some feeling back into them as chakra rushed through his system once again. Naruto was annoyed by the name everyone around here kept giving him but he couldn't help but be happy at the relieved and thankful expression the people got when he removed their invisible bindings. He looked over at Mei expectantly but the woman just shook her head.

"That was the last one Naruto, you got rid of all the seals from the people we currently have in the base. I've sent word to our other outposts with the instructions you gave us and people will get to work with them over there." She walked over, sitting on the chair that had previously been vacated by all of Naruto's 'patients'. "You have no idea how much you helped us kid, with all those bloodlines in use again we finally have some heavy hitters back and it's going to take a while for Yagura to come up with a new seal. Fuinjutsu masters are rare throughout the elemental nations."

Naruto just nodded, always happy to help; before, his own fuinjutsu expertise was just for himself. However when he used it to actually help other people he felt a rush from his core that he couldn't explain but it felt good. He just smiled happily at the leader of the rebellion who looked around in thought for a few moments. She also kept glancing at Naruto, peering at him as if there was something she was supposed to see but couldn't quite.

"Anyway kid, you held up your side of the bargain so now I'll hold up mine." She motioned for him to stand and they walked through the underground base passing lit torches and many of the rebels. A few were training, others were playing card games or shogi to pass the time but all of them sent respectful nods towards Mei as she passed. Naruto even blushed slightly when he realised a few of the nods were in his direction; respect wasn't something he was used to and it unnerved him slightly.

"Don't worry kid, the weight of leadership is a heavy burden but when you help people you can't help but earn their respect." Naruto blushed again, Mei hadn't even turned when she talked but she had obviously noticed the nods and respectful gazes as well.

"I'm not exactly the type to be respected." Mei just smirked as they carried on walking; the passages and tunnels of the compound were winding and Naruto would have easily gotten lost if he didn't have a guide.

"Oh? And why is that?" Naruto just hung his head a little, looking away from Mei so she wouldn't see the look over his face.

"It's nothing, I'm more used to fear and hatred than respect. So it feels weird." Mei stopped mid-step, turning to look at him curiously.

"Now why would a kid like you be feared or hated? You're not even old enough to have earned that kind of ire." Naruto just sneered in annoyance, thinking back over his childhood before reminding himself that was all behind him.

"Trust me, age has nothing to do with it." Without saying any more Naruto kept walking, prompting Mei to follow on behind him, now rather curious about the blonde that had been brought to her. She led him into a large tactical room filled with plotting boards and maps with a few people looking over them and discussing various strategies. Mei ignored them as she made her way over to one of the more expansive maps, filled with small models representing troop deployments and unit locations as well as the defences on certain areas.

"Alright kid, if what you said is true then your friend will more than likely have been taken here." She pointed to a small dot on the map out in the middle of nowhere, quite far behind what could be considered the enemy's 'lines'. "It's a large camp that's been lovingly dubbed 'Gyou no matsubi'." Naruto shivered at the name, 'end of the line' didn't exactly sound very pleasant and he understood the irony when considering who was kept there.

"We've been trying to launch a hit on the place for about a year now but it's too far into Yagura's territory to take a sizable force. Sorry kid but if you go there my men can't go with you. I can't even offer a few of my chuunin, they'll be pretty much walking to their deaths." Naruto just nodded in understanding, he couldn't ask to rid this woman of some of her vital forces and taking a jounin would have been out of the question.

"Which is why I'll be going with you instead." Naruto just stared at her in shock, his eyes wide and unblinking at the offer.

"But you're, and, you, but, why?" Mei just smiled at Naruto warmly, not an expression he was used to from people in her generation.

"You still have no idea what you've done for us kid. With that seal neutralized we finally have a breath of a chance at winning this war. It's been dragging on for far too long and my men have been mired down in it for even longer. If I go with you and we take out that camp then we'll have struck a major victory over that bastard Yagura." She looked at him sternly but her eyes still held warmth. "You've paid not only me, but all the men who fight daily for their freedom a great debt and I always repay my debts, no matter the cost." Naruto was still looking t her incredulously.

"But you're the leader here. If you don't make it back what will happen to the rebellion?" Mei smiled again, this time more out of pride.

"You'll learn someday kid that an idea is a lot stronger that the individual. It doesn't matter if I die out there, someone will just take my place. As long as there are still people willing to fight against bigotry and ignorance there will be a rebellion." She smirked, looking down at him confidently. "Anyway, don't you think I can handle myself?" Naruto spluttered a bit, unsure of what to say that wouldn't dig him deeper into the pit he was making. Wisely he chose to say nothing and just looked at Mei expectantly. "Good, then we should leave immediately; it's just turning dark so we'll have all night to make it to Gyou no matsubi."

Naruto just nodded in defeat, the woman made a strong argument and if she was the leader of this rebellion, against a Kage no less, then she must be strong. He sighed as she went over the plan to him, his sigh quickly turning into a smile at the thought of finally getting Fuu back.

* * *

Fuu was growing increasingly bored as the large group of people slowly made their way through the dark forest. She had grown a taste for tree-running in her time with Naruto and being relegated back down to just walking through the forest at such a lethargic pace was irritating. She wished she had paid more attention when Naruto had excitedly gone on about fuinjutsu but to Fuu it just looked like a load of squiggles on a page. That was she could have gotten rid of those annoying seals and they could have already made it to where they were going.

"Umm, so where _are _we going anyway?" Currently she was walking alongside the man who had told them he had a place they could go to. She had found out his name was Ao and he was a part of the rebellion working against Yagura's regime. That alone had put him in Fuu's good books after everything she had heard about the bloodline purge. He had gotten captured because his partner had betrayed him while they were on a two-man mission to free some of the very prisoners he now resided amongst. He had killed the man but not before his accomplices managed to subdue him with the seal.

"There is a small base not too far from out location where we can regroup with the rebellion. After that we can make our way to Mei-sama's position and return to helping her... however we can." He sighed as he looked down at the seal around his bicep, the pain of losing his chakra obviously getting to him.

"Don't worry about that, if I can find my Oniisan he can get rid of that seal, he's great with them." Ao still looked downcast, he obviously didn't find the words encouraging; that or he believed that Naruto was probably dead. He gave her a veiled smile to try and relieve the girl's worry before he went back to looking ahead and scouting out their path. For a while Fuu had wanted to ask about the eye patch, the way he moved suggested he might have only recently lost the eye, or at least the vision in it. She decided against it, usually topics like that were a sore subject for most.

She sighed again to herself, wondering where Naruto could be, banishing the nagging voice at the back of her mind telling her that he had abandoned her, left her like everybody else in her life. She didn't believe such things anymore, Naruto was family and family didn't abandon one another so she wouldn't give up hope. _'Where are you Oniisan?'_

* * *

Naruto stopped, coming to a low crouch on the branch he had hopped onto, quickly followed by Mei. He had to physically avert his eyes when he noticed the way her impressive bust bounced slightly when she jumped from tree to tree. She had caught him looking nice but sad nothing, deciding to take it as a compliment. She wasn't sure if that made her vain or needy but she didn't really care. In her opinion Naruto looked like the type that would grow into an attractive young man and to get that kind of unspoken compliment made her feel young. Plus he was being somewhat of a gentleman by trying not to look so she could forgive him.

They stopped because they had come to the edge of a large clearing, at the centre of which stood an equally large compound. It was surrounded on all sides by a chain-link fence, no doubt reinforced with chakra to prevent it from simply being crushed. This was Gyou no matsubi and it made Naruto's stomach churn just looking at it. Mainly it was composed of a few low buildings that formed one side of the compound and at the other stood a veritable sea of cages, all pressed up against one another.

Currently Naruto was dressed up in a dark blue flak jacket with the standard camouflage pants of a Kirigakure shinobi. He might have been mistaken for one if it wasn't for his headband and bright blonde hair. If blonde hair was a rarity in Konoha and more so in Suna then it was almost unheard of in the Land of Water. In fact the only place that it was actually somewhat common was Kumogakure; Naruto had seen more than a few blondes in his time there. Other than that he had only seen Tsunade and the Yamanakas to say otherwise.

Focusing less on his possible heritage and more on the task at hand Naruto made quick work in scouting out the encampment. There was a large contingent of guards, most likely between jounin and chuunin, constantly moving about the outer walls. Some even had nin-dogs and that would make it almost impossible to sneak up on the camp conventionally. Luckily nothing Naruto ever did could be considered conventional and he managed to see the glaring weakness in the camp's defence.

"Mei-sama, if you would let me I believe I can disable the guard quickly enough and allow you entry into the compound." Mei just looked at him dumfounded; he had already proven proficient in fuinjutsu, an art that some men found impossible to even grasp the basics of but even so he was only fifteen. She found it difficult to believe that he could have an easy way of getting into such a high level compound that even Mei found slightly intimidating.

"What are you planning?" Naruto just smirked, placing a finger against his nose in an 'I'm not telling' manner.

"You'll see." With that he unsealed a few kunai, three in each hand and Mei gasped as she recognised their design. She was about to comment when Naruto sent the special weapons sailing into the air on a trajectory that would take them over the walls of the camp, but not particularly in the direction of any of the guards. Naruto quickly formed a seal in his hands and whispered gently.

"Multi shadow kunai jutsu." Instantly the six thrown weapons sailing through the air became sixty, each landing without even a whisper of a sound all throughout the base. Still stunned that such a young boy could know a technique like the Mei almost didn't notice when Naruto vanished from his spot on the branch besides her. Of course she did, one did not become leader of a rebellion without having that kind of awareness.

Nothing could be heard from the direction of the encampment except the normal sounds of the nin-dogs sniffing about outside the wall. Mei heard a strange whine as one of the dogs found the kunai and were scared by it because it didn't have any scent whatsoever. That whine turned into a brief but high pitched yelp as the dog and its masters found themselves on the floor, bleeding from a gash on their necks and unable to cry out for help.

Mei may have been around in the time of the Yondaime Hokage but she hadn't ever seen his technique in use; only Iwa and a few Kumo ninja had ever had the honour. Now she understood why it was so feared; the attack, if one could call it that, was over in a matter of minutes with Naruto silently moving about the camp without having to take a single step, killing anybody that didn't have the suppression seal.

Soon he stood in the centre of the open area between the cages and the buildings, panting from the exertion of using the Fujin no Iki so much. The sharpened kunai in his hands were slowly dripping blood to the ground as he stared around at the death and destruction he had caused. Naruto had killed before, on his first mission to deal with some bandits in fact, but never on this scale. He managed to make it over to the main gates of the facility and open them before falling to the ground, just staring at his hands.

Mei walked over almost hesitantly; she had seen some atrocities, as is only natural in a war, but seeing a young boy like that mercilessly slaughter an entire camp of shinobi was something she would ever forget. She looked at him, sat up against the chain link fence of the camp, staring at the blood spatters on his hands like he could will them to vanish. She moved over to his side, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as he forced him to look into her emerald eyes.

"Naruto, you did what you had to." He nodded slowly, almost mechanically as if e wasn't fully registering what she was saying. At least he hadn't gone into shock; although worryingly that meant this was not his first kill. Mei had had her first kill at a much younger age, being raised in a war but it still nearly broke her heart seeing the innocence of children like Naruto being slowly drained away as the sparkle left their eyes.

He shakily stood up as his shocked and unbelieving features slowly morphed back into his usual determined mask. He quickly hurried back over to the cages and found they were all locked; normally that would post not problem as he could cut them open with wind jutsu but he was exhausted from his use of the kunai. They were too sturdy to just be broken with brute force but Mei was already on it.

She walked up to one of the cages and breathed on the lock; a fine mist emerged from her lungs and on contact with the lock it sizzled before completely melting away. Naruto looked on in surprise, wondering what kind of jutsu that was as she repeated the manoeuvre over and over until all of the cages were lock-free and they were stood before a small gathering of roughly a hundred captured shinobi.

A few seemed to recognise Mei and were giving their thanks for their rescue but even more had seen what Naruto had done to their guards. Their faces were a mix between thanks, awe and respect which continued to make Naruto feel uncomfortable. He didn't like that these people were thanking him for killing others; what they were doing may have been disgusting and horrible but they were still people.

It didn't really matter to Naruto. He was too busy looking through the faces of the crowd for that shock of mint green hair he wanted to see. He couldn't spot Fuu anywhere and even tried calling out to her with no response. Mei just looked at his hopeful but frantic calling with a saddened look on her face. Casualties were a sad but necessary horror in war and she had lived too long in battle to have hopes that Naruto's friend was even alive.

"Alright people, don't stand around gawking, we need to get you out of here quickly!" Naruto snapped out of his discomfort long enough to tug on Mei's sleeve ho only turned around in annoyance.

"That may not be the best idea Mei-sama." The older woman just looked at him curiously. "We only managed to reach here because of our tree-running, if we were to go by foot we would definitely get caught by all those patrols we came across unless one of us was to take them out beforehand. If even one of them got away we could be swarmed by Kiri troops." Mei thought about it and nodded quickly.

"You're right, but we also can't stay here. For all we know they have messengers coming to and fro to check up on the prisoners. We don't have enough time for you to remove all of these people's seals so what do you suggest?" Naruto just shrugged.

"I may not be able to get rid of all of them right now but I could do enough that we would at least have a small squad. That way if we come across any patrols we have a better chance of getting rid of them before they can inform somebody else." Mei nodded at the young boy's suggestion. For a fifteen year old he was already showing incredible foresight and planning. "I also need to find where my kunai landed. I don't want others getting their hands on them." Mei nodded in agreement; the last thing she wanted was Yagura getting his hands on such a dangerous technique.

"Speaking of which kid me and you are going to have a talk about what you did back there." Naruto just nodded dismissively.

"I could say the same thing, what was that technique you used to disable the locks? It wasn't any elemental transformation I've ever seen." Mei just smirked and held her finger up to her nose in the same manner Naruto had done minutes ago.

"We all have our secrets Naruto." Naruto just scowled, he hated being left out of the loop or being denied information. "Alright people, change of plans. I need those of you that have some kind of scouting or tracking ability, as well as those with a very powerful kekkei genkai to step forward and Naruto here is going to remove that seal. We don't have time for all of you but we'll get that done once we get back to our base." A few people came forward and Naruto made short work of their seal, having had plenty of practises back at Mei's base.

Now alongside Mei and Naruto they had an ice wielder from the Yuki clan, a steel release user, someone with a strange doujutsu that made their eyes glow red when in use and a storm release user. The unnamed doujutsu wielder took point with his ability to see through other objects and warned the others when a patrol was approaching. The steel release user would drop down in their midst and when all their attacks failed on him the storm release user would use him as a lightning rod to take out the patrol.

The Yuki clan member, Mei, and Naruto just acted as support, clearing up the stragglers that managed to get away. Naruto marvelled at the Yuki clan member who said his name was Ekki; his kekkei genkai was frightening in use. Naruto remembered Haku from his mission in Wave and in comparison Haku might as well have been playing around with slush. Ekki could harden the moisture in the air around his enemies, encasing them in ice without any prior notice before shattering both the cocoon and his prisoner with a flick of his wrist.

It turns out the Yuki clan was one of the hardest hit in the bloodline purges because of the feared powers they wielded and Naruto was beginning to see why. A squad of ice users could decimate a small army if they were near a source of water. The more experienced one like Ekki just used the moisture in the air and in Water Country there was a lot to say the least. With this team dynamic they actually made it back to the base in short time, leaving a trail of dead patrols in their wake with no survivors to tell Yagura what happened.

The shocked look on the rebels' faces when a small army of bloodline users marched through their hallways. They were followed by a very happy Mei and a less than happy Naruto. He had failed to find Fuu and she was still out there somewhere. He walked through the hallways, trailing after the group of freed prisoners with his head hanging low and a defeated look in his eyes. Well he did until he was brought to the ground in a tight bear hug which crushed the air from his lungs.

"ONIISAN!" Naruto somehow found himself on his back, lying on the cold stone floor staring into a pair of bright sparkling orange eyes.

"Fuu?" She dived forward again and wrapped Naruto into a large hug, something she could actually accomplish now thanks to a small growth spurt. Almost as if he didn't believe it was true Naruto tentatively returned the hug, wrapping the smaller girl up into his arms. Finally they parted and Naruto could look at her properly; her clothes were a little ragged and her wrists had red welts from where she had been bound but most noticeable was the two large gashes in the back of her shirt which told Naruto she had used her wings.

"Fuu? But how?" So Fuu told Naruto everything, of how she was captured, how she incited a small rebellion from the camp which brought a mall smile to Naruto's face, and of how she came up with a plan to escape using her two signature abilities. In all Naruto was very proud of his younger sister, she had grown up a lot in the last year but until now Naruto didn't quite realise how much. When he looked at her he still saw the same little frightened girl he had found in Takigakure. However now he could plainly see the intelligent, strong young woman she was becoming and he felt a little pride when he realised it was partially because of him.

She finally allowed him to get up off the floor when they heard Mei cough from where she was standing next to Ekki. By now Ao had rushed into the room having been chasing a curious Fuu all throughout the complex and was getting a curious look from Mei.

"Ao? I thought you were on a mission with Shisakou?" He hung his head in shame a little.

"I'm sorry Mei-sama. I was betrayed by Shisakou and handed over to the opposing forces. In fact if it wasn't for that young girl I would still be under their control and no doubt have been in Gyou no matsubi or one of the other slave camps by now." Mei raised an eyebrow in Fuu's direction who just blushed under the scrutiny.

"Funny, because me and Naruto over there were just at Gyou no matsubi and now there is _nobody _there." The emphasis on the word told Ao everything that he needed to know about what had happened. He was a little shocked; that particular camp was infamous for being inescapable and no attack so far had been able to seize it. He looked at Naruto curiously, wondering what the boy was capable of but unable to truly examine him because of the seal around his arm.

"Is that right?" Naruto just nodded, feeling strange under the searching eye of this man. "Well then you have our thanks, with that amount of bloodline users freed we will surely have an advantage in future conflicts." Naruto just blushed under the praise; it was still too foreign for him. Fuu just seemed excited to hear that she wasn't the only one that had an adventure during their separation and bugged Naruto to tell her more about it as they walked back through the corridors of the base.

"Come on Oniisan, we have loads of time, tell me about what you did!" Naruto just smiled at her flustered features, enjoying having her back with him. Their time apart was too nerve-wracking and he promised himself from that point he would never let her get too far from him ever again until he was sure she could handle herself.

"Fuu I already told you, Mei-sama told me that was where you might be so we went there to rescue you and all of the bloodline users that had been captured." Fuu's eyes widened slightly as a single tear could be seen trying to escape their watery confines.

"You did all that just to rescue me? Even if you didn't know I was there for sure?" Naruto just nodded, smiling softly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Of course Fuu, I will never let anything bad happen to you as long as there is breath in my body." Fuu smiled as well but returned to contemplation as she took in her brothers kindly words.

"Ahh yes, if I may ask, how was it that a fifteen year old boy managed to infiltrate a high-level facility and rescue over a hundred bloodline users without a single casualty?" It was Ao who asked and Naruto just smirked, trying not to appear smug but from the way he said it the accomplishment seemed even greater. He just unsealed one of his kunai and started swinging it by the ring around his finger.

"You know, a shinobi has to have secrets." Ao seemed to look at the tri-pronged kunai, then back at Naruto's face, then back at the weapon with incredible scrutiny. He didn't say anything else but he did send a few questioning looks towards Mei who simply sighed and shrugged exasperatedly. "Anyway, let's do something about that seal around your arm. It must be getting annoying by now."

* * *

"Are you sure you have to move on? You would be a great help in this war." Mei seemed to rethink her words as she looked across at Naruto and Fuu "An even greater help than you have already been." Naruto sadly shook his head, much to Mei's disappointment.

"I'm sorry, I have my own obligations and one of those is to train and become stronger. I couldn't do that in the middle of a civil war, I would be fighting too much. I also wouldn't want Fuu to see some of the things that happen in a war, her innocence should be preserved as long as possible." Mei sadly nodded in agreement; after all she had thought things along those lines when even thinking about Naruto, Fuu was even younger.

"I understand, but it is still a great shame. Know that when we win this war you two will always be welcome in Kirigakure; come by some time to see us." Naruto nodded with a smile, as did Fuu. "We owe you a debt for how you helped us and remember I always repay my debts." Naruto's smile broadened. They were just about to leave the rebel base having spent a week there; Naruto was busy with removing everybody's restriction seals and Fuu even managed to make a few friends her age, most notable a young boy called Chojuro who, in Naruto's opinion, had some serious confidence issues. They both waved to the small gathering of rebel forces that had come to see them off and turned to leave when the passageway was sealed off by the earth moving to cover it.

"So where are we going now Oniisan?" Naruto just chuckled heartily to himself.

"You know Fuu, I think I've decided to stop planning these things. It never works anyway."


	39. Chapter 39

The single guard stationed outside of the Suna gate leaned against the passageway, only really keeping an idle eye on the desert horizon. There was nobody scheduled to even come to the village today, which was why he almost missed the two silhouettes approaching from the distance. Even then it took him a couple minutes just to realise they weren't mirages caused by the intense heat that left most foreigners dizzy. He peered closer, trying to discern anything he could from the general haze the desert's horizon held.

Both figures were cloaked, one taller than the other and he could spot blonde hair from the taller one. There was some kind of red pattern on the dark cloaks they wore but it was too far away to make out. He alerted an ANBU he was sure would be watching with a few discrete hand signals and got the reply in the form of sunlight being reflected from a mirror in equally discrete pulses. His attention returned to the cloaked figures only to find himself staring at blonde hair.

"Hey Mani!" The poor chuunin nearly jumped out of his skin and into the wall behind him, an unfortunate side-effect of his surprise.

"N-Naruto?" He stuttered because he couldn't believe what he was seeing; Mani knew Naruto when he was younger, having been assigned to catch him after one of his pranks. Back then the blonde had simply been a young kid, a talented ninja but still just a young kid of twelve. Now the changes were startling, he had shot up in height, now approaching a respectable five foot and ten inches. His normally shaggy hair had grown out into thinner and more pronounced spikes and his bangs now hung down to his chin, equally spiky as the hair on top.

"Well, at least you recognise me. When we went back to Kumo Yugito nearly had a fit!" He chuckled to himself, as did his smaller companion who Mani only now took notice of. She must have been about thirteen or fourteen with shoulder length mint green hair that tried to be spiky like her mentor but didn't quite manage the same feat. The majority was held back by an orange hair clip that perfectly matched the startling colour of her eyes. Her most notable feature was her caramel skin that made some of the tans in Sunagakure seem tame.

"Not as much as the Raikage, he nearly passed out for some reason!" Both laughed again at the memory of the normally unflappable A falling backward off his chair when Naruto had entered his office. Mani just stared at the two, wondering who the small girl was while at the same time wondering what they were talking about.

"Naruto?" The blonde finally returned his attention to the chuunin with a smile.

"Hey Mani, long time no see." The gate guard just nodded dumbly, still slightly taken aback at the shocking change to Naruto's appearance.

"Yeah, two years." Naruto nodded with a melancholic smile.

"I hope things haven't been too quiet without me around." Mani just laughed, some of his surprise finally wearing off as he realised this was still the same Naruto after all.

"Not with Matsuri around, that's for sure." Naruto just stared at him blankly and Mani had to chuckle sheepishly. "Uhh, you'll see when you report to the Kazekage." Naruto just smiled brightly.

"Awesome, I wonder how much Gaara's changed!" Mani just smiled politely and gave them the appropriate forms for them to fill out. Fuu gasped as she took her first look at the inside of Suna's walls; Naruto had warned her that it was an impressive sight but having been to both Kumo and Kirigakure she didn't think it could measure up. She was wrong. She looked just as awed as Naruto had felt the first time walking through the crowded and lively streets while Naruto just smiled at the nostalgia.

They made quick process through the streets with both getting strange looks from the residents. Many peered at Naruto as they tried to figure out where they had seen the tall blonde before. Their faces were even more amusing when their eyes opened wide in realisation, mainly because of the headband that he had made so recognisable over the years. Those that didn't recognise him instead looked at the amber-eyed one walking alongside him. Turning thirteen she had just started to fill out her clothes in the ways guys noticed.

Naruto had recently found himself having to play the role of the protective brother, much to Fuu's mutual ire and appreciation. It wasn't that he was possessive or dominating over Fuu's life in general; if he was he wouldn't have let her become a kunoichi. Instead he just felt an overwhelming desire to protect her from anything, be it S-ranked criminals from Akatsuki to lecherous looks from teenage boys who began to appreciate her budding womanliness.

They quickly made it to the Kazekage Tower, thoroughly shocking the receptionist behind the desk as she hesitantly buzzed them through into Gaara's office. Naruto had thought about making some grand entrance to try and surprise his stoic and immovable friend but in the end he just walked through the door with a smile on his face and an arm wrapped around Fuu's shoulders. In the end he was the one who received the shock as he walked in and saw two people he had missed with all his heart for over two years.

"Looks like I beat you home Shithead." Naruto was across the room in seconds, tackling Tayuya to the ground in possibly the biggest hug he had ever given anybody in his life; and that included Fuu. "Oof!" Tayuya suddenly found herself on the floor looking up into a pair of familiar cerulean blue orbs that stared back at her with unconcealed happiness that made the last two years simply melt away with familiarity.

"Well doesn't this just make me feel left out." Naruto craned his neck to look at Gaara who was just smirking at the pair. He stood up sheepishly, hand on the back of his head, and helped Tayuya up to her feet with a strong hand. He took that time to look at her and couldn't have been more surprised. Like Fuu, Tayuya had filled out, in all the ways that would make a man drool; including Naruto if he hadn't controlled himself.

Her hair had grown out even more and now reached down to the small of her back while that ever-present bang continued to drape down between her eyes. She now wore a red sleeveless shirt that displayed her midriff and lightly toned abs with a fishnet t-shirt underneath that reached down only slightly lower. Instead of the normal shinobi pant that she used to wore she now proudly stood in a tight red skirt that reached down to her mid-thigh and even tighter black spandex shorts underneath. To finish the look she wore black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back and standard black shinobi sandals.

By now Naruto had abandoned his cloak and Tayuya was eying him up in the same way. His whiskers had grown more pronounced with age which matched his now slightly more angular face. He had lost his innocent almost cherub-like features but they were replaced by an actual handsome face. His eyes still sparkled with the same youth Tayuya had left him with when they parted but now also contained a hardened edge, speaking of somebody who had seen conflict.

He still wore the black shinobi pants, but to his now taller size, with the equally dark sandals on his feet. He also continued to wear a plain orange shirt that was no doubt reinforced with seals but instead of his traditional green open jacket he wore a long flowing coat. It was a deep red with black flames licking the bottom and when it flapped slightly in the breeze you could make out scrolls lining the inside, as well as more than a few seals. In all it left Tayuya slightly speechless and if both parties had to choose a single word to describe the other it would be, hot.

"Sorry, it's great to see you Gaara. I hope being Kazekage hasn't been too strenuous." The stoic sand user just smirked; he too had changed over the years. Like Naruto his face had gained a more angular quality and his hair contained thinner spikes. The black markings around his eyes had also thinned slightly and Naruto wasn't sure if that was because of age or any growing relationship between him and Shukaku.

"I've found ways to keep it bearable." They all heard a chuckle come from the corner of the room and Naruto turned sharply.

"Is that all I am, a means of stemming off boredom?" Naruto watched as the young woman who had spoken walked over to Gaara and surprised him by placing her arms around his waist almost lovingly before resting her chin on his shoulder. She had shoulder length brown hair which clumped into spikes at the bottom and warm dark brown eyes. She wore a dark t-shirt that matched her skirt and equally dark tights that stretched past her knees. Her headband was wrapped around her neck and she bore two metal armguards.

"Of course not, that's just a plus." Naruto raised his eyebrow at Gaara actually taking part in a small bit of banter; it seemed it wasn't only his appearance that had changed. "Naruto, this is Matsuri, my fiancée." If Naruto had been drinking he was sure that the liquid would now be successfully sprayed across the room. Instead his eyes just opened wide and elicited a small giggle from Matsuri with a deeper chuckle form Gaara. He remembered Matsuri from the year below them in the academy but had never had any extended interaction with her.

"I-It's nice to meet you Matsuri." She giggled again and Tayuya just smirked.

"I know right? I was shocked as well; who knew Gaara had it in him?" Naruto just nodded dumbly and Gaara was lucky that his sand armour prevented anyone from seeing his blush.

"Yes well, now that the pleasantries are over I believe Naruto has someone else we all need to meet." Four sets of eyes all turned around to stare at Fuu who, until now, had been hiding behind Naruto. Despite being around him for so long she was still incredibly shy when it came to meeting new people; especially when one of those people was the Kazekage and another was her brother's girlfriend.

"Everybody, this is Fuu, the jinchuuriki of the seven-tails, Chomei." The mint-haired girl waved weakly but felt a bit relieved when all she received was warm smiles from everybody present. "Fuu, the smoking hot redhead there is Tayuya..." Said girl immediately blushed and looked away from Naruto "...and the stoic redhead there is the Kazekage of Sunagakure, Gaara no Subaku." She waved again, this time with a little more confidence.

"It's good to meet you Fuu, in all of Naruto's letters he has only spoken highly of his 'little sister'." Fuu wasn't sure what to say when being addressed by somebody as important as the Kazekage; she was the same with all her interactions with the Raikage, although she had been younger then. "It's alright Fuu, you have no reason to feel intimidated. Naruto and I have been friends for over half my life now." Matsuri just let out a small giggle.

"Yeah, no reason to feel intimidated except that you control sand and we're in the middle of a desert. " Gaara just looked at her with a tired smile while Fuu looked at him with an awed expression she saved for things that truly impressed her.

"Was that really necessary Matsuri? Now she'll-"

"That's so cool! How do you control sand? Do you have a bloodline? How much can you control? What can you make it do? Can you lift a desert?" Gaara's eyes widened slightly at the rush of questions, his fears apparently unfounded as he began to see Naruto's influence on the young girl.

"Fuu, I already told you before, Gaara's abilities come from Shukaku. He's a jinchuuriki, like us." Fuu blushed a little, although it was hard to tell from the colour of her skin.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Naruto just laughed and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before returning his attention to the one he had really missed over the years.

"Hey Tayuya, long time no see." The redhead just scowled and stormed over, Naruto actually flinched because he thought he had done something wrong, only for Tayuya's lips to smack into his own. His eyes opened wide only for the briefest of seconds before they closed and he wrapped his arms around Tayuya's waist so his hands could rest squarely on her bum. Her tongue asked for entrance and he didn't deny it as they began a sparring match different from the normal Shinobi.

Everybody else in the room just watched on, astonished and trying to hold in their blushes at the very open display of affection. Fuu was finding it very strange to see her brother in this way, even after sneaking out some of those pictures Tayuya had sent him and nearly passing out form shock. Finally the two remembered that people need air to live and parted, smiling and panting with a line of saliva managing to hold them together.

"Wow."

"Wow." Both just stared at one another, still with that same smile before Gaara cleared his throat loudly.

"Um yes, well, reunions aside, Tayuya has already delivered her report so would you mind telling me of what you accomplished on your training mission?" Naruto just smirked deviously.

"Oh I think it would be better to just show you. Plus, I want to make sure that Tayuya-chan really has been training." He was surprised when the redhead showed no irritation at him using the affectionate suffix, he hadn't even meant to it just slipped out.

"Fine with me Shithead, I missed being able to beat on you for two years." Naruto just smiled, he was so looking forward to this.

* * *

There was an almost serene air in the training ground as Naruto and Tayuya stared across at each other, both smirking. Gaara Matsuri and Fuu all stood off to one side, watching with anticipation for somebody to make the first move. Usually by now Naruto would have charged in, he was always better at coming up with plans on the fly than actual forethought. Gaara just smiled, it seemed he had managed to learn some patience with age.

"So Tayuya-chan, how much do you want me to hold back?" Tayuya scowled by smirked lightly, very confident in her stance.

"Oh, I wouldn't hold back if you know what's good for you." In a millisecond she had her flute out and up to her lips, intending to finish this quickly and show him that much hadn't changed over time. What she wasn't expecting was for Naruto to have already covered the decent fifty feet between them and snatch the flute out of her hands before she even realised it was gone.

"You know you really shouldn't rely on your flute so much Tayuya-chan." The redhead had a second to get over her shock at how fast Naruto moved, she hadn't even seen him use the Fujin no Iki. She couldn't believe that anybody was that fast naturally, it just wasn't physically possible. The only person she had heard of that even approached those speeds was the Raikage in his lightning release armour and Naruto didn't have the swirling blue aura.

She didn't give him the chance to get close again as she thrust her hand into the ground. Instantly cracks spread out form her position in concentric rings before the earth cracked and shook, imploding from the inside. Naruto, who was in the process of moving towards her again, was thrown completely off balance as a piece of earth beneath him was uprooted. The problem with moving at the speeds he did was it was a painful landing if you tripped. Luckily he caught his bearings in time to land on his hands, right next to Tayuya.

She tried to lash out with a swift kick but when you fight Naruto your movements have to be more than swift. Still on his hands he dodged out of the way, returning the kick with a lightning fast jab of his own. Tayuya tried to block but his leg snaked under her arm and caught her neck. The next thing she knew his hands were around her feet and he was flipping her over to land painfully on her back. He smiled down at her with mirth that just irritated her; she smirked as well as Naruto began to see stars and slumped off her body.

"W-What?" Tayuya calmly got to her feet and brushed the dirt off of her clothes while looking down at Naruto.

"You like it? You have those Oto nin to thank for it, vibration is a powerful thing and if you get just the right frequency there's nothing you can't do." She kicked Naruto hard in the stomach to show his defeat while thinking how disappointed she was that it was so easy. Her first mistake was underestimating Naruto as she soon found out when the clone burst an explosion that would make an exploding tag seem meek.

Tayuya was sent spinning through the air to land on her arm as she felt it crack painfully from the force. She let out a grunt and looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the real Naruto before he could take advantage of her vulnerability. Not seeing him she quickly lit up her hand in a green chakra shroud and passed it over her injury, feeling the pain melt away as bones and muscles knitted themselves back together.

"Wow, medical jutsu. That's cool." Her eyes opened in shock as she spun around to see Naruto staring over her shoulder; she hadn't even noticed he was there. She lashed out with her foot which Naruto calmly caught and threw back at her, launching her away from him. She flipped and landed gracefully on her feet, wasting no time in activating a seal on her wrist, the inspiration for which came from Naruto himself.

A large metal bo staff burst into existence in a poof of smoke and was deftly caught in an expert grip. Naruto just did what he always did, sped in at a nearly invisible pace figuring he would dodge any attack thrown at him. That was why his eyes lit up in surprise when he saw the blue lightning charge down the metal staff and he reacted too slow before the pole struck him in the cheek. He was sent hurtling back with an impressive force to impact not in a tree, but through it.

"Lightning chakra infused through the staff to speed up its speed and hitting power?" Tayuya just nodded with a happy smile from her position in the middle of the field. Naruto felt Kurama pull his dislocated jaw back into its socket and he tested it once or twice to see if it was working. He stood up, this time smiling at the great fight he was getting from his girlfriend.

"Good thing you're not the only one with a lightning affinity." He focused as he concentrated on the flow of chakra through his body, manipulating it so that it rubbed together, creating the static required for all lightning jutsu. Instead of releasing it like he should have he allowed it to build up, diverting it into his muscles when it became too great. He felt it crackle over his nerve endings giving him a sort of euphoric high that always came with this technique. Finally he passed wind chakra to his tenketsu, letting it build up before he let it all go in one burst.

"Swift release." Naruto vanished; the dirt wasn't even kicked up to show that his foot had moved, it simply looked like he had popped out of existence. In the same moment Tayuya felt three sharp blows come from all sides before a leg below her kicked her up into the air and batted her around. Nobody could even see a blur, Tayuya just looked like she was bouncing around in thin air and all the spectators minus Fuu were very confused.

"What technique is Naruto using?" Gaara turned to Fuu who was just smiling at the performance her Oniisan as putting on.

"It's called swift release. It's used by combining his lightning and wind affinities. He forced lightning chakra into his muscles like the lightning release armour of the Raikage but not enough to give him the aura. Then he forces wind chakra out of his tenketsu to propel him in the direction he needs to go. I've never seen him use it so early in a fight before, Tayuya must be pretty good." Gaara just nodded he had received an abridged version of her training and he agreed that she was 'good'.

Their attentions returned to the spar where Naruto finally reappeared out of a blur, allowing Tayuya to drop to the ground, riddled with bruises and a few broken bones. Naruto stopped a short distance away, panting for breath; moving that fast made it difficult to breathe, not to mention the control and chakra required were astonishing. He looked over to Tayuya to see if it was over yet only to see her stand back up confidently, the green chakra already doing its job of healing her body up. Now he knew how his opponents must feel when they saw his body miraculously heal from Kyuubi's chakra, it was actually a little annoying.

"That was a nice move Naruto, but it's my turn now." She bit her thumb and flashed through a few hand seals too fast for Naruto to follow before slamming her hand down into the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" A white cloud erupted from her hand, bathing her half of the training ground before dispersing to reveal a small army of falcons, hovering with their wings. "Sound cage!" Naruto didn't have too much time to react before the falcons flew over to him and surrounded him in a perfect circle.

They all opened their beaks and cried out at a frequency that was too high for a normal human to hear, but perfect for Naruto. It came from all sides of him, forcing him to cover his ears from the pain of it. Tayuya watched on, confident that this would be her victory before Naruto stopped clutching his ears in pain and stood up, as if the falcons weren't even there. She just looked on in shock, wondering if she had managed to deafen him before he pointed to his ears and shouted.

"Chakra earplugs, they're designed to kick in at a certain volume so I don't get deafened, but I can activate them manually to block out your jutsu!" He was shouting a little because he couldn't hear his own voice and Tayuya scowled at the simple, yet obvious answer to her technique. Not wanting to give him any more time to recover she rushed in, bo staff already trailing chakra and ready to use.

"Sounds of Pain!" She brought the staff around in a low swing, moving so fast that the lightning in the metal rod actually created a noise as it split the air in its path. Naruto dodged the strike and tried to return one of his own but as he hit Tayuya in the shoulder his hand simply phased right through her. However any doubts that this wasn't a clone were shattered when she brought the staff around again and connected with the side of Naruto's leg.

The lightning in the pole numbed the nerve ending when she struck, causing Naruto to briefly lose control of his leg allowing the redhead to get off three more strikes before he could jump back. It was lucky he was so used to having powerful electricity running through his muscles or he was sure he would be on the ground in spasms. As it was he was forced to dodge clumsily as Kurama went about repairing the damaged nerves and fixing his ability to send signals where they needed to go.

Tayuya didn't let up though and whenever he dodged she would be right there with another blow waiting to strike him. Her staff moved so quickly it left a trail of light arcing about behind her and continued to create a melody as it ripped through air molecules. Finally she let up, moving backwards as Naruto caught his breath and allowed the fox within him to heal the last of the damage.

"Damn Shithead, you got pretty fast while you were away. Nobody's ever been able to dodge me for so long." Naruto just shrugged, hiding the fact that he still wasn't quite hundred percent. "Sorry, but I'm going to finish this up now. Pain in Stereo!" She held out her hand in a familiar hand seal and instantly she was joined by a clone, one Naruto knew was just as real as she was. Both smirked as they brought up their staffs, both coated in lighting chakra and both looking ready to use it.

Naruto suddenly found himself dodging from an assault on both sides as the clone and the original moved in perfect tandem. Every so often their staffs would bounce off one another, creating a flash as sparks were released and they used the push to bring the poles around even faster. Naruto was hard pressed and soon he had to resort to swift release to prevent himself from being hit all. He forced the chakra where it needed to go and instantly the world around him slowed down.

He could see the individual streak of lightning as they arced from their metal conductors and every breath that the two Tayuyas took. He dodged the next swing of her staff as if it were being swung by a child before launching at her with a lightning fast fist to the gut. The low-motion Tayuya opened her eyes wide and began to shake, Naruto actually being able to see the blur that her body became as it tried to vibrate out of harm's way.

It didn't work, Naruto was just too fast and an instant later she was across the field, clutching her stomach before poofing into non-existence, signifying Naruto had chosen the wrong girl. As if to hammer that point home the Tayuya behind him tried to nail him in the back of the head with a quick jab but in the instant the metal touched the his skin he was already moving, the lightning not even fast enough to reach him before he was standing where the clone had disappeared. Tayuya panted as Naruto returned to the realm of the visible, deactivating the tiring technique.

"Dammit Shithead, just stay still already!" Naruto just smirked and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"It wouldn't be a very good spar if I did that would it?" Tayuya just scowled and surprised Naruto by pulling out another flute from her pouch, obviously a replacement for if someone did exactly what Naruto had. Naruto quickly activated his earplugs before she could even put the metal to her lips, exactly what she was hoping for. She blew out a quick sequence of notes and all the falcons she had summoned, which Naruto had unfortunately forgotten about, swooped down on him from above.

The blonde was assaulted with a hail of beaks and feather as he lashed out without really looking, dispelling summons with every strike while at the same time trying to save his clothes from their sharp beaks and clothes. When he finally got them all he tried to peer through the smoke they had created upon dispelling, only for Tayuya to burst out of it, bo staff ready to take Naruto's head off. He flipped back, narrowly avoiding the blow as it sailed on and impacted with the ground. He gulped at the large crater the single blow had formed, reminding himself not to be on the receiving end of one of those.

They both had returned to the spots they had started in, panting and out of breath from all the techniques they had been throwing around. Naruto clutched his wrist, intent on finishing this before it got out of hand. Quickly a rasengan the size of his head appeared in his hand but he lowered its concentration so it wouldn't kill Tayuya if it hit.

"Come on Shithead, you know I'm not going to let you get near enough to use that thing." Naruto just smiled.

"Then it's a good thing I learned how to do this." In a flash he thickened the chakra shell around the spinning orb and flung it towards Tayuya, smiling at the shock on her face as the condensed chakra flew through the air. It was connected to Naruto's hand still by a thin string of pulsing blue light and faster than Tayuya could say 'chakra thread' it smacked her straight in the stomach. All the condensed energy inside the sphere was finally released as the coating dissolved; the end result was Tayuya flying backwards from the shockwave it created.

Naruto calmly waited for the impact zone to clear of smoke and dust; when it did it revealed Tayuya shakily getting to her feet, staring at Naruto with defiance.

"Nice try Shithead but it's going to take more than that to put me down." Naruto just smiled innocently as he pulled on the chakra thread connected to his other hand. Tayuya followed it with her eyes right down to the spot near where she was standing as a seal suddenly revealed itself, along with four others all around her. Before she could utter another word a bright purple barrier sprung up, completely sealing her into a prison of light.

"You were saying Tayuya-chan?" Tayuya just pouted cutely, crossing her arms under her chest in frustration.

"No fair Shithead." Naruto just grinned his foxy smile.

"I think that means I win."


	40. Chapter 40

It was surprising to Naruto how little had to be said before the three friends returned to exactly how things were before they left. Well, not quite; Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away from Tayuya half the time, he was just astounded by how beautiful she had become. He noticed similar looks from other guys as they walked through the streets and unconsciously moved closer to Tayuya, grasping her hand in his. If she noticed or cared she didn't say anything but the smallest of smiles tweaked in the corner of her lips.

They were all making their way back from the training ground towards the Kazekage mansion, idly chatting about various interesting things that had gone on while they were all separated. Naruto was currently telling them about the Raikage's iron claw jutsu, one that made Naruto shudder just thinking about. In the time he had spent in Kumo it wasn't just Bee who had received that particular punishment. That earned him a round of laughs, especially from Gaara who only knew the Raikage as the stoic and intimidating man he acted as while on business.

The peace treaty between Suna and Kumo, and by extension Konoha, had gone through smoothly and without problem. Gaara would now regularly send for advice from A, who was more than willing to help out a young kage, remembering when he had first been given the position after his father died. Due to the nature of Tayuya's mission many of her stories wouldn't exactly be considered funny but she was able to tell of the few times she royally screwed the Akatsuki over without them even realising.

She had found out a lot about the group during her two years, actually meeting with Sasori and some of the other members a few times. She now had a perfect list of all the current members, including the wannabe Tobi, as well as their targets. Naruto found it amusing when she informed him that he had dropped of their radar almost a year ago and Itachi and Kisame had been assigned to Fuu. It made him feel almost good that he had outsmarted the Akatsuki, even if he didn't realise it at the time.

He began to worry about Yugito when Tayuya told them about Hidan and Kakuzu, the supposed immortals of Akatsuki. However having these descriptions was good, it gave him a better idea of who he was up against and now he could plan accordingly for each possible encounter. Already the cogs in his mind were turning, preparing him for those fights. What worried him most were the descriptions of the 'leader' of the Akatsuki, the man that none of them had met and only seen by proxy through the magic body lantern technique.

By the time they got back to the Kazekage mansion it was already getting dark, the fight having lasted longer than either of them thought. They walked through the hallways as Tayuya and Naruto smiled, remembering their lives here. Fuu just looked awed, she wasn't used to such luxurious trappings; even if Gaara personally disliked them they were more for show as a symbol of status. In actuality he just let Matsuri deal with things like that, she was better and more willing anyway.

"I trust you two remember where your rooms were." He made sure to stress the word rooms which elicited a blush from both Naruto and Tayuya; she had never truly had a room of her own, always sneaking into Naruto's. However this time she set a smirk on her face and just turned to Gaara confidently.

"Yeah, but I think I'll just stay in Naruto's room." Gaara actually raised an eyebrow, or he would have if he had any, and Naruto stared at Tayuya in a little bit of shock.

"Really Tayuya?" She just nodded with a smile, one that spoke of pain if he continued to speak about it and cause her more embarrassment; it was hard enough to admit even that much. Before he could do so she grabbed his hand and started pulling him along the corridors much to both Gaara and Matsuri's amusement. Fuu spared a confused look between the fleeing couple and the laughing one before chasing after her brother. She caught up to them just as Tayuya was trying to drag Naruto into their room.

"Oh Fuu, um, I guess you can have Tayuya's old room if she doesn't mind." The redhead just looked around, only just noticing the mint-haired girl's presence.

"Oh, umm, that's alright I guess." Fuu smiled confusedly, not understanding why the conversation had suddenly become so awkward. Tayuya coughed loudly before letting go of Naruto's arm and turning around to Fuu. "Hi, I guess we haven't had a chance to talk properly yet huh?" Fuu just smiled and stuck out a hand.

"I'm Fuu Uzumaki!" Tayuya chuckled while smirking at Naruto.

"Well she's definitely been travelling with you for two years Shithead." Fuu pouted a little, not sure whether or not to take that as a compliment or not.

"Why do you call Oniisan 'shithead'? Aren't you his girlfriend?" Tayuya chuckled nervously with her hand on the back of her head; it seemed if you spent enough time around Naruto you picked up that trait.

"Uhh yeah, it's complicated, but he knows I'm only joking." Naruto just nodded reassuringly from behind her back and Fuu just smiled sweetly.

"So if Oniisan loves you can I call you Oneesan?" Tayuya's breath caught in the back of her throat and Naruto's eyes widened a bit at the question.

"Um, uhh, ahh..." Tayuya was positively shocked, she had barely met this girl and she was already treating her like family. Tayuya never had a proper family before, none that she would actually call as such anyway. "Uhh, I guess?" Fuu just beamed before turning on a heel and vanishing into the room across the hall. Tayuya was just left there gawking as Naruto put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright Tayuya-chan?" She shook her head of the shock and turned back to him so he could see her eyes begin to tear up. "Tayuya are you crying?" Her eyes opened wider and she immediately rubbed her eyes free of the salty liquid.

"What? Fuck no! I don't cry so shut the fuck up!" She brushed past him into their room and after a moment of curious hesitation he followed her in. She was sitting on his bed, looking out the window at the view of Suna stretching out into the distance. He walked over and sat down next to her letting her lean her head on his shoulder.

"She really meant it you know. Fuu's one of the nicest people I have ever met. Before me there wasn't anybody she could trust; now she wants to have 'precious people' like her Oniisan." He chuckled at that; knowing how his words inspired her always warmed his heart. Tayuya just nodded, not taking her head off of Naruto's shoulder but still not allowing the tears to fall. "I missed you Tayuya-chan." She finally looked around, a small smile on her lips and a genuine happiness in her eyes.

"Yeah, I missed you too Naruto." He smiled and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, pulling away to see her face flush pink for a moment before she caught herself. Now that her attention was off of Fuu a devious smile that Naruto recognised too well graced her features. "So how did you like those photos I sent you anyway?" Naruto smirked as well, happy that Tayuya was more or less back to her old self.

"Not nearly as good as the real thing." Tayuya cursed inwardly as she blushed again; usually she was the one riling him up. _'When did it get so easy for him to get under my fucking skin?' _She finally managed to get herself under control and turn around only for Naruto to plant another kiss, right on her lips. The one in the office had been a rush of the moment thing, passion brought about from not seeing each other for so long. This one was tender, more gentle and caring, and Tayuya found herself melting into the contact, not really caring about anything else.

Naruto had missed the feeling of her soft lips pressed up against his own; it seemed to only have gotten better with time. Likewise Tayuya was positively lost in the loving interaction, so much so that neither noticed the small presence at the door to their room until she let out a small squeak. Both spun around, breaking the lip lock to stare at the young green-haired girl who was watching them with wild eyes.

"Uhh Fuu! What is it?" The girl just squeaked again before scurrying off, closing the door behind her. Tayuya stared at the door for a moment before breaking out into laughter while Naruto looked sternly over at her.

"Come on Tayuya, that's not funny. What if we had been doing something else?" Tayuya stopped laughing and looked at Naruto who looked back blinking because he just realised what he had said.

"Oh?" Her voice lowered slightly as she stared at Naruto with slightly lidded eyes, a suggestive smirk twitching up the corner of her mouth. "And what else might have we been doing?" Naruto's mouth just sort of went limp, hanging open as he was at a loss for words to say.

"Umm, well, you know, it was just, I didn't mean, I was saying, it-" He found himself cut off from his inane ramblings as Tayuya once again pressed her lips up against his own before detaching with a small girlish giggle; something Naruto had ever heard from her.

"Wow, well it's good to know you're as easy to manipulate as ever." She smiled impishly as the cogs in Naruto's head started turning again.

"Hey you tricked me!" Tayuya's just gave him an amused look that clearly said 'yeah... and what were you expecting?' He just sighed in defeat before looking over at her with a new smirk, his prankster side finally being given free reign. "Well two can play at that game." Before Tayuya could ask what he mean he launched himself forward, capturing her lips and pinning her underneath him on the bed at the same time.

Tayuya was startled at first but deciding to beat Naruto at his own game. She kissed him back with equal ferocity, smiling into the kiss as she actually began to enjoy it. That smile turned into a shocked gasp when she felt one of Naruto's previously idle hands slowly trail up her inner thigh. She moaned a little from the unexpected but pleasant contact and felt Naruto's mouth twist into a victorious smile without breaking the kiss.

By that point Tayuya had stopped caring about whatever silly dominance game they were playing, she was too lost in the moment. Naruto's hand didn't stop there; it trailed a soft path up her smooth leg, lightly dancing across her skirt before skimming across her midriff with a feather-like touch. He hesitated a moment, his hand just inches away from her firm breast, unsure of how to continue. Feeling the primal need for the loving contact Tayuya took a hand away from Naruto's neck and guided his hand to her soft flesh.

She moaned into his mouth again as after a few seconds of uncertainty Naruto began taking up a soft kneading motion. Neither had broken from their passionate kiss yet and neither particularly wanted to. Thoughts flashed through Naruto's mind, he really was at a blank for how to continue this; everything they were doing felt amazing. His hands on her soft breast, her lips against his and the occasional warm breath that escaped her mouth and rolled down his cheek.

Soon he felt her hands tug the large coat off of him, throwing it to the side of the room before his orange shirt followed. Unfortunately they had to break their contact for the annoying shirt to come loose and Naruto took that time to gaze down at her body. The way her hair splayed out behind her on the bed and just the lightest sheen of sweat adorned her forehead. He couldn't quite find a word to describe the look in her eyes as they passed over his exposed upper body except, hungry.

She lifted her arms and Naruto got the message, removing her tight vest and mesh shirt as quickly as possible without ripping them, not that either would have cared at that moment. He gazed down at her, her torso now only covered by a dark red bra that made Naruto's eyes widen just looking at it. Both of them gulped as Naruto looked at her before she nodded slowly, answering the unspoken question.

Tentatively, or maybe reverently, Naruto unhooked the bra at the front, letting the two cups fall to either side and reveal their bounty hidden within. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of it except it was the most wonderful sight he had ever seen. Wasting no more time he dove back down on Tayuya, pulling her into another passionate embraces as their tongues writhed between their mouths. Both just enjoyed the taste of the other, Naruto noted with a smile that Tayuya tasted how she smelled and the cinnamon flavour carried over.

His hand raised back up to caress her chest, his fingers stopping for a moment when they passed over her hardened nipple, gaining him a small moan on Tayuya's part. He smiled into the kiss again and took the small pebble between his finger and thumb, rolling it slightly to see what kind of reaction he got.

"Ahhh Fuck!" Tayuya was in bliss, everything felt amazing from the way Naruto's leg was rubbing between her thighs to his hand softly yet firmly playing with her nipple. Her body was on fire and as Naruto moved that intense heat only increased inside of her, collecting in her gut like waters being held back by a damn. Naruto just continued his ministrations making sure that the other breast wasn't left unattended as he brought his other hand up.

"Oh Kami Naruto!" Tayuya whimpered slightly when Naruto finally broke away from their kiss only for her moaning to come back full force as she felt something warm and wet plant itself around one of her rosy buds. Naruto was curious about this having read about it in Make-out Paradise but not really understanding it. He began to see why it was so well written about as he rolled the hard button around with his tongue eliciting louder and more heated moans from Tayuya now that she wasn't being muffled with his mouth.

He came up from her breast, stopping his hand playing with her other earning a second whimper from her and a small smile from him. Tayuya gave him a confused and pleading look as he knelt up from the bed; she had never begged for anything in her life but right now she was willing to swallow her pride if it meant more of these wonderful feelings. Naruto just quickly jogged over to the door and pulled out a seal from one of the pockets in his pants, slapping it onto the door before running back over.

"Privacy sea-" Tayuya couldn't have cared less about what kind of seal it was, she just grabbed Naruto's head and stuck it back down where it had been, gasping as cold air was replaced by warm breath. Naruto was more than happy to oblige his girlfriend, sucking on her hardened pebble and rolling it about in his mouth and just enjoying the unique experience. She gasped again as the cold air suddenly attacked the wet nipple when Naruto quickly switched breasts.

Tayuya couldn't stand it anymore; she grabbed his head and brought him back up into a searing kiss that took both their breaths away. After another minute of passionate making out Naruto finally parted again, beginning to plant small but loving kisses across her jaw, onto her neck before trailing down her body. He passed down through the valley created by her breasts, leaving a small trail of saliva in his wake that by the time he had reached her waist was beginning to pool in her navel.

Hesitant again he stopped, staring at the point where soft creamy flesh became the red material of her skirt, looking up at her again with questioning eyes through the valley of her breasts. Tayuya bit her lip and nodded, if she waited anymore then she felt like she was actually going to explode. Naruto carefully unzipped the garment, letting it fall of to either side until Tayuya shuffled and he was allowed to pull it out from under her.

Next he stared at her tight fitting spandex shorts before hooking his fingers through the waistline and giving it an experimental tug. Slowly he peeled off the tight piece of clothing, pulling it down her legs in a manner that made sure Tayuya felt every feather soft movement. When he finally pulled them off he could help but give a cheeky kiss to Tayuya's toes, smiling when he heard her yelp in surprise from above him.

Finally he trailed back up her legs in the same manner he had her stomach, planting soft and quick kisses further up her leg until he was moving down the valley of her thighs. Finally he stopped, his eyes widening and his eyebrows quirking at the lacy pink piece of underwear Tayuya wore underneath her shorts. To say he was surprised she was wearing such a feminine piece of clothing was an understatement. He actually looked up from between her legs to see her blushing as he stared at the only thing between him and her womanhood.

"Hurry the fuck up and do it Shithead!" It was supposed to come across as strong and forceful but it came out meek and pleading, too cute for Naruto to say no to. With one swift movement he whipped her undergarments clean off. Tayuya let out a yelp of surprise and pleasure as cold air assaulted her most private area leaving it exposed for Naruto to see. Unconsciously she shifted her leg in an attempt to block his view but stopped and thought better of it.

She trusted Naruto with her life so she could trust him with this; hesitantly she moved her legs apart leaving her soft pink slit right in front of a gaping Naruto. Now Naruto was really unsure of what to do, sure there were a few ideas in his head thanks to those less than reputable books, but when you're actually in that situation for real it's vastly different. He just stared at Tayuya's crotch for neither knew how long before he heard Tayuya whimper again.

That simple sound broke him out of his shocked stupor enough to reach forward and gently stroke the lips before him. Tayuya's whole body shuddered from the intense feelings that erupted from her core and Naruto smiled at the effects a simple touch could produce. He rubbed again only to meet with similar results so he rubbed slightly harder, and faster and for longer until Tayuya was practically a quivering heap on the bed.

"Naruto, please!" He smiled one last time before he tentatively poked a finger into her warmth as Tayuya squeaked from the shock of his invading finger. He slowly rubbed around inside of her and Tayuya felt the pleasurable effects on her body increase tenfold. It was just too much for at this point; her whole body shuddered with absolute pleasure and like dam gates finally bursting she felt a warmth like fire spread out from Naruto's fingers that rocked her body into her first orgasm.

Either Naruto didn't notice or he was trying to prolong it as much as possible as his finger kept pumping in and out of her. It almost went unnoticed as he slipped another in, marvelling at how tight yet soft Tayuya felt. Finally the redhead came down from her intense high, panting breathlessly on the bed with one hand on her chest and the other on her forehead. Naruto finally came up from between her legs, smirking at how Tayuya looked right now.

She looked down only to see him curiously lick up some of her fluid that had been left on his fingers, the erotic image causing her to moan again as Naruto's face lit up with a smile. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the flavour but he had to admit it was quite good, sweet yet tangy at the same time. Unique in itself and made all the better by knowing that it had come from making Tayuya happy.

Remembering something else from a certain little orange book Naruto blushed furiously as he looked down. He gulped before tentatively leaning down and giving Tayuya's core a small lick, the results of which Naruto would remember for a long time. Tayuya cried out in absolute pleasure as her extra-sensitive area was suddenly assaulted by Naruto's warm and wet tongue. Naruto had gotten a taste for Tayuya's juices and he was determined to get more, if that meant she received pleasure like this then it was just a plus. His tongue moved furiously until he hit some kind of small nub.

"OH FUCKING KAMI!" Naruto smirked as even more of her precious fluid dripped out of her moist core which he gladly lapped up. He prolonged Tayuya's second orgasm for as long as possible as he paid special attention to the little nub he had found that he affectionately name 'Tayuya's orgasm button'. By the end Tayuya's eyes were lidded and unfocused as she smiled pleasantly at nothing in particular.

When Naruto's face suddenly appeared near her own and just pulled his head in for a kiss on instinct, not really registering that she tasted herself in his mouth as they exchanged fluids. She moaned again when his still clothed leg rubbed up against her now swollen and orgasmically sensitive slit in an effort to get into a more comfortable position. His hand once again returned to its duty rubbing Tayuya's nipples between his fingers while one hand drifted cross her now sweat slickened abdomen.

Both were suddenly shocked from their pleasurable embrace by an enormous explosion ripping through the air outside. Tayuya wasn't quite lost to her visceral side enough to ignore such a blatant noise and looked up curiously as multiple explosions lit up the night sky. She also noticed the large white bird flying around while somebody riding it battled endless waves of sand.

"Deidara!" It was more of a shocked whisper but Naruto caught it, his eyes hardening and his lips forming into a grimace. He lifted himself off of Tayuya's prone body and threw on his coat, not finding time for anything else.

"Tayuya, stay here, if he sees you then your cover in the Akatsuki will be blown." Tayuya couldn't argue, right now she had difficulty moving her arms from the nerve-wracking experience she had just gone through. She panted on the bed as she continued to stare up at the battle raging on high above the village as Gaara valiantly fought for both himself and his village.

"I am going to fucking kill that asshole for ruining my reunion with Naruto."

* * *

Naruto rushed through the halls of the Kazekage mansion, skidding through hallways that he knew from memory until he was outside. He stared up at the sky as it was lit up in explosion after explosion against Gaara's indestructible sand. He had to find a way to get up there to help him but this was an aerial battle and he had no way of flying. A grin lit up his face when he realise that wasn't true; he took a deep breath and prayed that he had enough materials for this.

He unsealed a single Fujin no Iki kunai and threw it up into the air as high as it would go, which was fairly high considering his strength. Once it reached the apex of its climb Naruto quickly flashed to it, grabbing it as soon as he appeared. In one fluid motion he launched the kunai again in mid air and quickly flashed again; he shouted out in joy when it worked and he manage multiple flashes in quick succession.

Now that he knew it worked he repeated this process further towards Gaara's battle and three flashed of blonde later he was right next to his friend who made him a floating platform without even thinking about it consciously.

"Gaara, how are you doing?" The stoic sand user didn't turn as he continued to manipulate his large streams of sand through the air in such vast quantities it made him look like he was ripping the desert apart. Naruto had never seen him use such control before, nor hold such large amounts in the air while simultaneously manipulating it in more and more complicated manoeuvres in an attempt to hit the flighty artist.

"He is proving difficult to strike and contain due to his bird." Naruto just smiled and nodded.

"Get rid of the bird, gotcha. A little boost would be appreciated." Gaara just nodded and in an instant the sand Naruto was standing on launched him forward like a little bullet straight into Deidara's path. The enormous clay bird veered out of the way but Naruto threw his kunai faster embedding it into its soft side. In a flash he was in top of the bird, surprising its blonde rider.

"How the hell did you get up here?" Naruto smiled innocently before punching the man square in the face to capitalise on his shock. Unfortunately Naruto's hand passed straight through the man, and not in the good way. His fist was suddenly surrounded in clay as he heard an ominous and deadly hissing from beneath him. Acting on pure instincts alone he threw out a kunai in any random direction and flashed to it, hoping he was far enough away from the blast. He wasn't.

The edge of the shockwave caught him in mid-air. Knocking him so that he went spiralling through the air, clutching his shoulder. Luckily a soft blanket of sand awaited him before he dropped too far and cushioned his fall enough that he wasn't squashed flat. The sand brought him around to where Gaara still hadn't moved.

"Well, I got rid of the bird." Gaara smirked but quickly pointed down to where another clay bird was weaving through the streets of Suna, complete with another Deidara riding on its back.

"You got rid of _a _bird." Naruto just scowled as he looked at the Iwa missing nin dodge wave after wave of sand.

"How much clay has that guy got?" Gaara's face just hardened with resolve.

"Not as much as I have sand." With a near imperceptible narrowing of Gaara's eyes the sand pursuing the crazed bomber sped up, nearly scraping along the clay bird's tail 'feathers'. The effeminate man seemed shocked by this and veered off into a side street, which just so happened to be blocked by a large wall of sand with sharpened spikes. He swerved back up into the air where Naruto was now waiting for him; he dropped down off of the sand platform and tried to grab onto the birds wings.

Deidara managed to swerve away but not before Naruto was able to lightly brush the wing, and that was all he needed. With a mere thought he instantly transported himself to Deidara's position; this time he successfully grabbed onto the wing and used it as leverage to pull himself around and smack the Iwa-nin in the back of the head with his foot. This time he struck lucky and the blonde was sent hurtling off of his own bird with a surprised look on his face which turned into a frown as his hands formed a seal.

"Maybe this will get you to appreciate my art!" Naruto already knew what was coming and had jumped away in time to avoid the worst of the explosion.

"Okay that is getting really annoying!" He cursed as he watched Deidara sail by on yet another bird while he fished out another kunai to launch at him. This time the bomber had wised up and began to weave violently so that Naruto couldn't get a look on him or a kunai close enough. Instead he allowed Gaara to catch him with a sand platform and took a few seconds to catch his breath. Using the Fujin no Iki so often was really starting to take its toll and it was times like these that he wished he had wings like Fuu.

He took a deep breath and clutched his wrist, creating as large a rasengan as he could without it blowing up in his face, it turned out that it was fairly large, about half the size of himself. He quickly attached a few chakra thread and began to slowly spin on the sand platform faster and faster. He let the rasengan out of his hand and it swung around him like an enormous and deadly hammer toss. He kept gaining speed but never lost sight of Deidara as his pseudo-flail sped up until he was a bright blue circle in the sky.

"Rasengan mace!" All in one instance he let it go, the deadly sphere of energy launching out at impossible speed, connecting with the clay bird and sheering straight through one of its wings causing Deidara to lose balance and nearly fall off. Instead he just put his hand down and fed more clay into the bird, repairing the wing so he could come out of the nose dive. Unfortunately for him he forgot the blazing ball of energy right behind him; he was promptly reminded when it burst apart in a brilliant display of fireworks that tore through the man and his bird like paper.

Naruto huffed heavily as he dropped to one knee; the control he had exerted over that Rasengan was tremendous. He sighed deeply as he heard a chuckled far behind him, only to turn and see yet another Deidara astride yet another bird.

"Oh Kami damn it, where are you getting all this clay?!" Deidara just smirked from his position on the hovering bird.

"Ah but an artist never reveals his secrets hmmm?" He smiled more deviously even as his hands gorged on the clay in his satchels. "I'll admit your art was impressive and brilliant but it doesn't quite have the simple flare and creativity that mine does." Naruto didn't know what this guy was talking about, what did art have to do with any of this? Unfortunately he didn't get a chance to ask as the man quickly formed something in his hands before a few dozen little bird appeared in front of him.

Naruto was too tired to dodge fast enough as the exploding bird came closer, he closed his eyes and hoped Gaara had enough time to block the explosions with his sand. Something did block the explosions, but it wasn't a wall of sand like Naruto had expected. Then he saw a flutter of green wings before a body dropped from the sky.

"FUU!"


	41. Chapter 41

Naruto watched helplessly in slow motion as Fuu's crumpled body dropped through the sky. Bringing up reserves of energy he didn't even know he had Naruto launched himself from the sand platform. He fell as fast as he could, streamlining his body and forcing chakra to his feet in a vain attempt to speed up his descent. Finally he caught up to Fuu's body, her wings fluttering uselessly as the harsh winds battered her thin body. Naruto caught her and forced them both around in the air until she was on top of him, intending to use his own body to cushion her fall.

They impacted the ground with a crash that was heard through the streets nearby sending a plume of dust and debris into the air. Naruto groaned painfully from the drop, he felt all the places in his back and legs that were fractured and broken. He didn't care that much, his hands were frantically checking over Fuu's body; her skin was a little burnt in places but the medic would be able to deal with that.

He sighed deeply as he felt a strong pulse from her neck; she must have used Chomei's chakra to shield herself from the worst of the blast. Her eyes opened weakly and blinked a few times as she wondered what happened that made her end up in a rather deep crater. She groaned as she felt Naruto's hands checking over her body and turned meekly in a sluggish and painstaking movement. She turned enough that she could crane her neck and look at Naruto with her piercing, but now slightly cloudy orange eyes.

"How did I do Oniisan?" She tried to laugh to make the situation less tense but it came out as a wracking cough. Naruto just smiled kindly back at her, not letting her see just how much pain he was in.

"You did great imouto." She nodded tiredly with a small smile on her face before passing out in his arms. Gently he laid her to one side, slowly getting back to his jarred and quickly mending feet. He waited until a group of medics rushed over and pulled Fuu onto a stretcher. The medic shinobi were all looking at him with awe, nearly everybody watching the fight had seen him fall and none were expecting him to even live. They forgot just how tenacious Naruto Uzumaki was.

A deep throaty growl reverberated from his throat as he looked back up into the air to the still on-going fight. He seemed to have missed something as Deidara's cloak now fluttered uselessly behind him on one arm. He grinned slightly maliciously, red oozing chakra already gushing out of his pours and increasing the feral nature of his look. By the end of this fight he fully intended to rip the bombers other arm off for what he tried to do to Fuu. It never crossed his slightly frenzied mind that Fuu had merely gotten in the way of an attack meant for him; the non-Kyuubified Naruto could deal with those consequences later.

With a leap not possible for normal humans and even most shinobi Naruto took to the air leaving spider web cracks from the force of his feet leaving the ground. He ricocheted off a nearby tall building and nearly caved in the wall as his feet deftly pushed off it. His hands formed hand signs, one each, and instantly a shadow clone appeared in front of him in the air. He used it like a stepping stone, launching off its prone form before it dispersed from the impact and another was created in its place to continue the cycle.

Naruto was now literally running across a path of himself through the air, chasing down the crazed bomber and incredible speeds. Deidara looked back as he continued to dodge sand, slowly working in his contingency plan as his severed hand fed his exploding clay into Gaara's sand. He noticed a flaming Naruto charging him down and his eyes opened wide, but only briefly. He had never seen anybody so recklessly throw away chakra like that; then again he was dealing with what could potentially be the most powerful of the jinchuuriki.

He motioned his bird to move faster but Naruto just matched his acceleration, continuing to gain 'ground' on the blond missing nin. He grimaced, already reaching into his satchel to make another bird after the moron fell for his trick again only for a very strong and burning hot hand to grab onto his wrist before it could touch his clay. He looked up in shock right into Naruto's red slitted eyes which stared back at him in absolute unquenchable fury.

Quickly Deidara secreted what little clay he had in his hand through the pores in his arm. He detonated it in an attempt to rid himself of the other blonde's hand which was slowly but surely crushing the bones in his arm. It didn't work; the chakra coating around Naruto proved too resilient even for Deidara's Shi Wan and the blast was redirected back onto the bomber himself. He winced in pain; he was used to explosions from all his experimentation but it still hurt like hell to have a blast go off that close to his skin.

Naruto just growled again, not pleased that the explosion didn't take Deidara's arm off; intending to finish the job he placed a firm chakra-coated foot on the Iwa-nin's back and pulled. Deidara may have already had one arm crushed by Gaara's sand but this was a whole different level of pain. He could feel the individual muscles and tendons in his arm strain and snap under the pressure until it became too much and his arm was ripped off at the shoulder, sending a spurt of blood into the air.

Deidara's scream was heard for hundreds of meters throughout the village as even a few shinobi winced at the sound. Naruto just stared at the arm he was holding, throwing it away from him in disgust before returning his attention to the blonde in front of him. By now the bird beneath the two of them was crumbling away as Deidara lost focus on it, unable to channel his chakra any longer. They dropped from the sky but Naruto didn't want it to be over yet; his crazed and angry mind only wanted to prolong the man's pain, to make him suffer for what he had tried to do.

He caught him on the way down by the throat and grabbed the wall of a building as they fell down. His clawed hands created deep gashes that sent out bursts of dust and debris where claw met masonry until the two came to an almost gentle stop on the ground. They were in the middle of a wide street where normally people could be seen bustling about as they went about their daily routines, now it was eerily quiet due to all the civilians being relocated away from the dangerous fighting.

Naruto threw the man he was holding to the floor harshly, letting his back crack the paving stones beneath him with the force of it. The man's face was contorted in a pitiful attempt to mask his pain, unable to even clutch his wound to staunch the ever-increasing pool of blood growing beneath him. He had been able to cauterize his other arm with his clay but without either arm that wasn't a possibility. To Naruto's displeasure the man just started laughing, a weak but irritating chuckle that increased in volume.

"**What's so damn funny?!" **Deidara just shook his head with a small smile, almost regretfully if Naruto were inclined to believe him even a little.

"In the end my art just wasn't enough..." He coughed harshly, unable to cover his mouth due to a lack of arms. "...and I didn't even get to reveal my masterpiece hmm." He sighed regretfully before he was enveloped in another fit of coughs. He was still smiling though, something that pissed of Naruto to know end; he was about to go over and finish the dying man quickly before his coughs once again turned into laughs.

Before Naruto could do anything Deidara gagged slightly before spitting out a lump of clay that looked like a wailing ghost. Naruto just stared at it, knowing it was a bomb of some kind but unsure of the scale of its explosion. Deidara had called it his masterpiece so Naruto was wary; however before the man could take up a new monologue as his dying words Naruto reacted purely on instincts he didn't even knew existed.

He dashed across the street and scooped up the strange clay doll before in one movement he swallowed it whole. His mouth turned into a grimace as he tasted the second-hand clay before he felt it nestle in his stomach. Deidara just looked at him with wide eyes, not expecting that at all; he just thought it was some kind of desperate attempt to stop him. He activated the bomb with the last lingering remains of his chakra.

"You have no appreciation for art... true art, is an EXPLOSION!" Naruto felt a rumble in his stomach as Kyuubi's chakra invaded his insides, coating the lining of his stomach and throat before his body expanded to ridiculous proportions. The pressure was intense and even with his pain-nullifying chakra cloak Naruto's eyes watered. His neck expanded to match his body before he felt the pressure was too great and he opened his mouth, right at Deidara. The wide-eyed bomber could only watch as the condensed energy from the explosion, in the form of a thin stream of white light, hurtled towards him.

"Beautiful." And then Deidara was no more, disintegrated by the heat and intensity of the blast into nothing but dust. Naruto dropped to the ground feeling Kurama already trying to fix his stretched out muscles and ligaments from the pseudo tailed-beast bomb. It was a lot weaker than one he had seen Bee do as an example but it was enough to create an enormous trench along the ground, reaching all the way down the street but stopping just before it hit a building.

Gaara floated down to his position gently, looking slightly worn out from the fight but not exhausted like Naruto felt. Naruto just offered up a hand to show he was okay and Gaara backed off with a nod, knowing by now just to let Naruto heal from these things at his own pace. After five minutes he felt well enough to stand, albeit shakily, and looked over to the massive trench he had created. He gulped at the damage before his eyes found a scorch mark at the very beginning of the trench and he stumbled towards it.

There was nothing left of Deidara, he was completely gone, wiped from the earth like he had never been there to begin with. He stood a little taller, a weak smile managing to make it onto his face despite the pain he was feeling. Gaara walked over again and held out his hand; confused, Naruto did the same and Gaara dropped a ring into his palm. It was an ornate teal coloured ring with the kanji for blue and green inscribed on it.

"That's one." Naruto nodded grimly, this ring marked their first step in taking down the Akatsuki for good.

"They always work in pairs. Come on, his partner should be around here somewhere and if he had to fly in I'd say the second's around the gates." Gaara nodded and the two of them set off, Naruto was slightly winded but as they ran he felt his strength returning as his unnatural regeneration took care of it. Gaara new exactly what his teammate's limitations were and just allowed him to run, knowing the stubborn blonde would come even if he ordered Naruto not to.

They made quick work of getting to the gates; Gaara had ways through the city that nobody else could manage by bringing down entire walls of sandstone with a simple hand gesture before reforming it behind him. Likewise Naruto was one of the fastest people alive and he veered through street after street, zigzagging at speeds that sent loose papers into the air as he passed by. They both rejoined at the same time in front of the long passage, both stopping on a dime when they both realised the same thing.

"Where are the guards?" Gaara's eyes just narrowed as they scouted out the dark of the passageway, noticing the irregular lumps that lined the floor.

"Dead, all of them." Naruto just snarled and his hand clenched into fists before he took a calming breath to relax himself. His eyes pierced through the darkness, using his latent night vision to pick out the little details that even Gaara couldn't.

"There are explosive tags rigged all around the walls. It's a giant death trap." Gaara nodded in understanding.

"Can you disable them?" Naruto just shook his head quickly.

"No, not in time. The other one, Sasori if I remember from Tayuya right, will get away." Gaara just sighed and with a flick of his wrist both jinchuuriki were lifted up into the air and carried over the immense walls on a cloud of sand. Gaara may not have had the reserves that Naruto did but they were still impressive, his sand manipulation was also highly economical to his chakra consumption. It meant he still had a lot left in him for the fight that was surely to come when they caught up to the famed puppet master.

They landed on the ground silently, very carefully looking around for any more traps while they simultaneously scouted for any signs of the other Akatsuki member. Their only warning was a flash of steel before Gaara's automatic defence intercepted an attack. Naruto was actually a little surprised; he hadn't even seen the attack yet Gaara's defence blocked it like it was nothing. His sand never used to be that fast, it seemed learning his father's magnet release increased his control over his main element.

For Naruto his only warning was the slight whistle of the wind before he bent his body back, watching the tail-like blade sail over his torso. It whipped around in the air for a short period, emerging from the sand like a scorpion's tail, before sliding back down. Gaara didn't give it the chance to attack them again as he crouched down on the ground and placed a hand to the floor. He extended his senses through the sand, looking for any disturbances that weren't just small insects.

He smirked as he felt the slight vibrations that were caused when somebody uses the underground fish projection technique. He clenched his hand, homing in on the signature before attempting to crush it with the sand already around Sasori. Naruto could only watch as Gaara concentrated with his eyes closed, seeing his eyes moving about under his eyelids. He didn't even flinch as the metal tail re-emerged from the ground and attempted to strike him, the sand defence batting away the semi-flexible steel appendage like it was made of paper.

Suddenly the sand burst up as Sasori was forced out of hiding before he could be completely crushed. He landed a good distance away from the two as Gaara calmly stood up, turning almost painfully slowly towards their attacker. Not much could be seen thanks to the cloak and straw hat which obscured much of the man's body and face. A small cloth hung across his jaw leaving the only visible part of his body his bloodshot and hardened eyes.

"So you managed to kill that fool Deidara. Why am I not surprised? He would have known better than to keep me waiting." His voice was gravely and deep and he spoke with clearly enunciated words. "I suppose it's my job now to capture the two of you, very well. I just hope that Leader-sama can still perform the extraction with your bodies riddled with poison. You're in luck, as I understand the procedure takes three days, exactly the time it takes for my poison to slowly work its way through your system, slowly destroying your cells from the inside out."

As soon as the last word was out of his mouth a hand came out to rip away his face-mask, revealing a wooden and puppet-like mouth. It opened wide as a hail of senbon erupted from somewhere deep inside what they now knew to be a puppet. Gaara simply stretched out an arm and a wall of sand caught every one of the projectiles before they could get close. The puppet's mouth closed again, revealing a sneer, or the closest puppet equivalent.

"So it's true, you really can manipulate the sands to your whims." Gaara remained silent; talking during a fight wasn't really his thing. Naruto on the other hand was itching to go; Sasori's poison stopped him from rushing in though. While Kyuubi might have been able to deal with it eventually, if it was as complex as the puppeteer made it out to be then it would disable him long enough for the Suna missing-nin to land a more lethal blow.

"Well? Are you going to attack yet? I hate to be kept waiting." Gaara just crossed his arms over his chest, assuming the most indifferent stance imaginable.

"I have no need to attack, the sands are mine to control and you currently stand in a desert." As if voicing its silent approval of its master's declaration the sand around Sasori suddenly leapt into the air, trying to cocoon the man to crush him to death, or at least the puppet which was the main concern right now. The steel tail-like blade just whipped around in a large spiral, dicing the sand into particles before it could become dense and cause him harm.

"Gaara, where is Sasori?" The redhead didn't look around, making sure to keep his eyes squarely on the puppet, relying on his defence to stave off any surprise attacks.

"Inside the puppet." Naruto looked back at the hunched over figure in surprise.

"What? How do you know?" He smirked a little, it actually looked a bit creepy to those that weren't used to him.

"You forget that Kankuro is a puppeteer. I have been around him long enough to recognise chakra threads when I see them. The puppet has none attached to the outside which means they must be from within." Naruto looked around again at Sasori inside his puppet shell; it would certainly rectify the issues puppeteers have with being targeted instead of their puppets.

"Very good Kazekage. Yes, this is Hiruko, one of my finer creations. Let me show you why." The cloak was suddenly ripped away from the body revealing the form of a very muscular man down on all fours with the bladed tail whipping about above him, further emulating the animal Sasori was named for. The blade emerged from a demonic-looking mask set on its lower back, looking like a piece of armour. There was a strange contraption on its left arm that looked like a large glove with cylinders poking out of it.

"Let me see just how extensive your defence is." The puppet raised its left arm and suddenly all of the cylinders shot out of the glove with a hiss off steam. Once they were sufficiently high the broke open, unleashing a veritable hail of senbon, all surely laced with deadly poison. Even Naruto wasn't sure that Kyuubi could heal him if too many of those struck home; luckily for him Gaara just made another hand motion and a dome of sand erupted all around them, completely blocking off the metal rain.

"Interesting, the senbon didn't even dig in, merely bounce off. That means you can harden your sand by compressing it." Gaara let the wall dissolve so they could see their target again, Naruto didn't like flying blind like Gaara could. The redhead merely maintained contact by focusing his attention on the minute vibrations through the ground, building a perfect three dimensional image of the outside of his dome.

"I may have to alter my plan a bit." The Hiruko puppet lifted its other arm and a small canister shot out of a concealed space in the palm. Gaara went to lift another blockade, hoping that the man would simply run out of weapons to use so he could end this swiftly. The last thing he saw before sand blocked his vision was the canister hiss and break apart, revealing a heavily rotating drill head. Both he and Naruto were surprised when the metal container burst through the sand before the cap broke off and a heavy purple mist was ejected at high pressures. Gaara made a move to jump back and away from the deadly gaseous poison before he could breathe it in but Naruto beat him to it.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!" Naruto breathed in heavily, only inhaling trace amounts of the deadly mist before he breathed out, expelling the gas away from the two of them. He panted slightly as a burning sensation erupted from his lungs before it was cleansed; even so, it left him panting on the ground, clutching his chest in pain. Gaara knew he would be alright; he still had the puppet to deal with so he dropped the barrier, prepared for the puppeteer's next attack.

"Hmm, you two working together seem to nullify many of Hiruko's main fighting abilities. In that case-" Sasori stopped his monologue as soon as he saw the Naruto on the ground clutching his chest burst into a cloud of smoke, the poison becoming too much for the clone.

"Rasengan!" If puppets could be surprised then Hiruko was, he never expected the swirling vortex of energy that erupted from the ground beneath his exposed belly. The condensed chakra easily ripped through the wood of the puppet. Splintering it as it tore through the weakness on its underside. Before he could finish it a shadow darted out of the puppets body and dashed across the sand to get a safe distance away from them. Or at least as safe as one could be when standing in a desert while fighting Gaara no Subaku.

"Interesting, nobody has ever forced me out of Hiruko since I joined the Akatsuki. I would almost commend you if I didn't know you were going to die anyway." Naruto backed away from the unveiled puppeteer, not knowing what tricks he had up his sleeves. From memory he knew Kankuro could seal his puppets into scrolls; that meant Sasori could as well so there was no telling how many he hid across his person.

The man turned around to face them, only to reveal the face of a boy no older than Naruto or Gaara with unruly red hair wearing typical Akatsuki robes. He stood confidently across from the on the sand, unperturbed by the fact it could erupt around him at any moment.

"This has been a good fight Gaara of the desert, how about a reward? Why don't you say hello to your predecessor?" In a flash of movement there was a burst of smoke and when it cleared a robed figure floated above Sasori's shoulder, its long black hair hung in a disorderly manner about its unsettlingly human-like face. "Meet the Third Kazekage, Nitachi of the Iron Sand." Gaara's eyes narrowed as he looked upon the face of the puppet that looked back with dead, glassy eyes.

"So you are the one who killed the Third." Sasori just smirked.

"The man should have known better than to deny my right to teach puppetry as it should have been taught. None of those ready-made puppets that only weakened Suna!" The puppeteer caught himself, reeling back his emotions after letting the young Kage get the better of him like this. "Truly, your sand manipulation is a curious ability, after all this is over you will take pride of place in my collection. But first, let's sees how two legendary manipulators do against one another." Neither jinchuuriki could react fast enough before the puppet opened its mouth and exhaled a dark cloud of fine iron particles.

However what Sasori wasn't expecting was for Gaara's hand to suddenly come up and his control over the fine granules lessen. Gaara seemed to be visibly straining as his hand trembled, held out in front of him with his palm facing outwards. There was a loud groaning sound as the iron sand convulsed in mid-air, conflicted between two differing magnetic fields. Gaara may have been the weaker manipulator, still unused to magnet release but on the other end the sand was only being controlled via proxy which lessened its efficiency.

Soon the sand began to be pushed back, condensing as it went, moving towards the puppet and its master as it gained speed and Gaara's body trembled from the exertion. Sasori could only look on shocked as the mass of sand tore its way towards him, obliterating the Third Kazekage puppet before the master puppeteer could pull it out of the way. Before it could slam into him Sasori jumped up as high as he could, two rotary blades on his back whirring to life as they carried him up above the sand, hovering like a hummingbird. His cloak had been torn to pieces in the process, revealing his true body, lines along the joints indicating just what the ex Suna-nin had done to himself.

"Well that was unexpected. I was uninformed you knew the magnet release. While certainly annoying I still have more than enough to deal with-"Sasori made a simple mistake that could almost be described as a rookie error; he had taken his eye off his opponent. He looked down to see a grinning Naruto hanging onto his legs before the body swung up with incredible upper body strength and planted a foot directly in the redhead's face. Naruto heard a crack but he felt the blades spinning on Sasori's back come around in an attempt to shred him so he let go and dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Both he and Gaara looked up to see that Sasori hadn't even flinched as a large crack appeared across his otherwise pristine youthful face.

"Your efforts are in vain. I have transcended mortality; this body feels no pain, no exhaustion, not fatigue or injury. If it breaks I repair it, if it is destroyed I rebuild it and if I find an imperfection I fix it. There is nothing you can do to stop me." Naruto just sighed into his palm; he certainly attracted the strangest of enemies.

"God complex much?" Sasori remained impassive, not responding to the jibe as he focused on Gaara, to him the more serious opponent. He saw a kunai approach from the corner of his eye and the cable in his stomach shot out and swatted it away from him to land harmlessly in the sand, too far for it to be of any use to his enemies.

"Your Hiraishin ability is well known to me Uzumaki, your kunai will not get close enough." The flexible cord flicked around a few times as if in agreement.

"Gaara, can't you just drop the desert on him or something?" Gaara almost looked back, amused that Naruto thought he could do such a feat, it wasn't that he had actually tried to move a desert but it sounded highly improbable.

"Manipulating that amount or iron sand was tiring. If I attempt such a manoeuvre it would surely kill me, jinchuuriki or not." Naruto just nodded with his mouth curled to one side in thought. However Sasori didn't particularity feel like waiting for them to come up with a plan to defeat him. One of the scrolls on his back flashed briefly before to hollow tubes appeared from his palms, one aimed at each of his attackers. A brilliant jet of flame burst from each tube, roaring down on their targets as Gaara pulled up his defence and Naruto simply ran, using his advantageous speed to outrun the flames licking at his heels.

Gaara was surprised when he saw the barrel of the flame thrower turned and the flames went from scalding hot red to intense white, nearly forcing him to cover his eyes. It finally ran out of fuel and the flames petered out but Gaara's eyes widened when he realised the barrier he had erected had been turned into glass from the sheer heat from the weapon. Before he could react the extendable wire shot out, smashing through the glass and impacting heavily with his stomach, the only thing stopping the sharpened tip from piecing him was his sand armour. Instead he was simply flung backwards to land harshly on the ground.

Naruto could finally stop running, wincing as the burns he had received on his back and heels slowly healed. He had just fought Deidara so he was quickly tiring in this fight, he would have to end it quickly or risk getting him and Gaara hurt or captured. Using nearly the last of his stamina Naruto created as many clones as he could, roughly five hundred in total to which Sasori cast a curious eye. He smirked as another scroll flashed brightly before disappearing.

"So you have an army. Well how about you meet the army that took down an entire nation!" In an enormous explosion of smoke Naruto's eyes widened as the sun was blotted out. A mass shadow appeared above the desert as hundreds of puppets littered the sky, all connected to Sasori by chakra threads in a compartment in his chest. Naruto just felt his shoulders go limp as all the clones looked up in awe.

"Well shit." There was a moment when the world seemed to stand still, not a single grain of sand moved across the desert and nobody breathed. Then it was over, a gust of wind rolled across the dunes and the clones rushed in, met quickly by the many puppets as the two forces battled it out. Sasori maintained his height, watching over the battle field to prevent any surprise attacks like the one that nearly caught him out before.

His glassy eyes darted over the ground while his hands deftly controlled his small army as they wiped out batches of the clones in throngs. He smiled at the pathetic attempt to defeat him; for every puppet he lost Naruto would lose ten clones, it wouldn't be enough to even the playing field. His eyes widened as something bright flashed through the sky too fast for him to effectively manoeuvre out the way with his rotors.

His puppet eyes saw a streak of gold slice through one of his propellers before he lost control and ungracefully hit the ground in a crouch. He stood up as quickly as his artificial joints would allow, only for his body to suddenly be littered with impacts. His eyes blinked a few times in shock as the many puppets around him all convulse before falling limp to the sandy floor. He slowly looked down at his body, seeing the many poison laced senbon sticking out of his body, or more importantly the single metal needle implanted directly in his core.

"Oh, how ironic." And with that, Sasori of the Red Sand fell to his knees, dead before his already lifeless head hit the ground. The multitude of Naruto clones standing around him breathed a sigh of relief before popping out of existence leaving the original to watch as Gaara withdrew his gold dust back into the pouch on his belt. The two looked at each other, smiling weakly as they glanced around the battlefield, hundreds of broken or lifeless puppets littering the desert.

"I'm not cleaning this up."


	42. Chapter 42

Naruto made sure to wipe the trickle of blood that escaped his mouth before he slid the door to the hospital room open. He walked in slowly, peeking his head around to make sure it was the right room before shutting it behind him with a small click. Tayuya was already there, sitting in the chair next to the bed while she watched over Fuu's sleeping body. Naruto wasn't sure why she was there, she and Fuu only really talked once but he wasn't complaining. Naruto walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, Tayuya didn't flinch from the contact having heard Naruto enter the room.

"Do you know how she is?" Tayuya just nodded, her eyes still on Fuu's meekly smiling face.

"Yeah, some prick of a doctor was marvelling at how fast she was recovering so I booted him out, making too much fucking fuss over it anyway." Naruto resisted the urge to laugh at the way Tayuya put it. He knew Fuu would be alright, she was tougher than she looked and Chomei wouldn't let anything too bad happen to her. Tayuya looked up at him, smirking slightly at his concerned expression.

"You know she's so much like you already." Naruto raised an eyebrow but allowed her to finish. "I've only ever seen you be that selfless." She looked down a little sadly "Honestly I never thought I would see somebody act that way for you." Naruto just leant down and planted a quick and chaste kiss on Tayuya's cheek causing the girl to blush. "You know you still owe me for running out to fight that bastard and leaving me like that." Naruto's grin grew as the tension in the air lifted slightly.

"Please Oniisan, not in my room." Naruto's head whipped around to see Fuu gently open her eyes, wincing at the light from the sun streaming in through the blinds. Naruto took the hint and walked over to the window, pulling them tighter which earned him an appreciative smile. He came back over and propped himself on the side of the bed so that he could wrap an arm around Fuu's shoulders.

"Hey imouto, how are you feeling?" The girl smiled weakly and chuckled a bit, almost bringing on a coughing fit but she suppressed it.

"Like I just spent a day with Yugito-sensei." Naruto joined in on her laugh while Tayuya just sat to the side, slightly confused as she was left out of the loop. Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he suddenly remembered why he had come here and quickly began rooting around in one of the pouches hidden in his coat.

"Oh Fuu, I almost forgot..." He came back up, clutching something in both hands which obscured it from view. "...I was going to give you this after Gaara officially made you a shinobi but I guess you earned it a little sooner." He opened his hands, smiling warmly as Fuu's eyes watered a little. In his opened palms was a long strip of dark blue cloth and attached to it was a single metal plate, lovingly engraved with the kanji for seven. Fuu took it almost reverently, her eyes still watering but still not quite ready to cry yet.

"Huh, I guess I should have given it to you sooner." He reached up with a chuckle and gently touched the bandage around Fuu's forehead, taking his hand away when she winced. "But I guess better late than-" He was interrupted as Fuu rocked forward, capturing her older brother in a hug that made both of them wince from their recent injuries. They broke apart when Tayuya coughed loudly into her hand, startling both of them out of the moment.

"Sorry to interrupt, but that's my job." Both Fuu and Naruto smiled sheepishly as they rubbed the backs of their heads respectively, oblivious that they were perfectly emulating one another. Tayuya just groaned and put her head in her hands. _'Oh great, there are two of them now.' _She sighed and smiled as she walked around the bed, capturing Naruto in an equally warm embrace. The blonde gladly returned it, happy to be holding his girlfriend close, even if she was pressing on a still sore burn. This time the hug was broken by Fuu coughing into her own palm, which Tayuya promptly ignored and continued anyway, sticking out a tongue in the mint-haired girl's direction.

"Hey!" Tayuya smiled smugly and only clutched Naruto tighter, eliciting a small wince.

"Sorry Fuu, girlfriends before sisters." She laughed but pouted when Naruto firmly but gently pushed her off him.

"Sorry, I think I've had all the hugs I can manage today." He backed up the statement by clutching his side rather painfully but smiling all the same.

"Aww, well isn't that a shame, you just look so adorable right now." All three occupants of the room turned to see a smirking Matsuri standing at the door of the room with Gaara just to her side. He coughed into his hand awkwardly, not used to seeing his two friends so close, even though he had suspected it long before it actually happened.

"I hope we aren't interrupting anything." Naruto just adopted his classic pose, his cheeks only slightly tinged red.

"Umm no, of course not. What do you need Gaara?" The young Kazekage sighed but nodded anyway, walking further into the room and sitting in a chair near the bed.

"Tayuya, I think it's time you told us everything you found about the Akatsuki. Sasori is dead so you remaining undercover has become pointless. After tonight I know we need all the help we can get if we want to just stay alive." He looked around the room, making sure to look into Fuu, Tayuya, and Naruto's faces one at a time. "From this point on nobody is to engage an Akatsuki member in combat alone. None of us are ready or able." He received a round of nods to his approval and took a deep breath.

"Okay Tayuya, tell us everything you know."

* * *

When she was done the room was bathed in an unsettling silence; while the news that the members of the elusive organisation were tough was expected, it didn't lighten the blow. Everybody was left to their own thoughts in order to think about what challenges they would be facing in the future. Naruto seemed especially pensive as his mind ran through all the information he had been given. His eyes were narrowed in concentration and the veritable cogs in his brain were turning furiously in order to come up with plans and strategies.

Information was power and knowing your enemy proved almost invaluable in a conflict. However at no point could they assume their information was complete, they would always have to be prepared for the unexpected. Naruto knew that the Akatsuki must know almost as much about him as surely as he did about them now. Luckily from what Tayuya told them they had been dealt a crippling blow with the loss of Sasori, their spy network would take months to recover completely.

The way he saw it the next major target would be Kakuzu, the money behind the organisation. Without those two key players the Akatsuki would be severely weakened, maybe not as much ability-wise but more generally which in many ways was more important. Ideally they would simply want to kill every last member to make sure that there is nobody left to resurrect the organisation from whatever ashes they left behind. That meant taking on the Leader, the enigma, the one that nobody had any information about.

To get to him they would first have to get through Konan, the woman with some kind of bloodline that allowed her to control paper like Gaara could sand. She was the one partnered with the leader, she would have the information they needed; unfortunately to get to her they had to first go though the other members. Naruto just sighed into his palm, he was a sixteen year old boy; this kind of responsibility didn't belong on his shoulders. However he would bare it as long as there was breath in his body and he could protect the people close to him.

"Well, there's no use antagonising over it, we might as well just get on with our lives." Everybody stared at the blonde incredulously except for Gaara who nodded impassively.

"What are you talking about Shithead? Did those Akatsuki fuckers rattle a few bolts loose in that brick you call a head? Don't you understand how serious all of this is?" Naruto turned to her with a small smile that made her stop mid-rant; there was no anger there, a hint of tiredness maybe but otherwise just a serene calm.

"Of course I do Tayuya-chan, I'm taking this as seriously as I can. I'm just saying there is no use in going after them. Sooner or later they will have to come to us." Tayuya seemed like she wanted to refute that, to say they should be out there hunting them down before they could strike first but Naruto's eye kept her from speaking. "Gaara can't just up and leave; he has a village to run and a fiancée to look after." Matsuri pouted a little at the implication she needed looking after but one look at Gaara and she re-evaluated just who would be protecting whom if it came to a fight.

"We also need to warn the other jinchuuriki if we can, if they were here tonight then for all we know they're already going after the others. Sure we got a few of them but there are still eight more, eight more S-ranked shinobi who could kill any one of us if they got us alone." Tayuya nodded meekly, she was a proud kunoichi but she wasn't arrogant. She had seen firsthand what Sasori and Deidara could do and they were powerful. Deidara was even the lowest member besides Tobi, everybody else was even more dangerous.

"So for now we just carry on. We train, we prepare, but we wait for them to come to us, we wait until the fight is on our terms. We need every advantage we can get." By the end of his small speech his voice was a whisper and he wasn't meeting any of the others in the eye. Tayuya hugged his arm lightly and he offered a small smile as her vibrant hair fell against his shoulder.

"You're right, sorry Naruto." His eyes opened wider a bit at the admittance but softened as he just rubbed her back reassuringly.

"Powerful words Naruto, perhaps you would have been better suited for Kazekage?" Gaara said it with a small smirk so Naruto knew he wasn't serious but he grinned back all the same.

"Ahh who needs a title like Kage, stuck behind a desk all day? I'm still going to be a legendary shinobi and no asshole in a black cloak is going to stop me!" Tayuya actually felt a bit of pride swell in her chest as she heard her boyfriend call the Akatsuki members that. For the first time she felt as though she was rubbing off on him instead of the other way around and it made her feel good, special even.

"Yes well, on your line of thinking I have in fact sent word to Kumogakure that the Akatsuki have made their move, perhaps it would be wise to go and check on them soon to make sure they are okay. While I have confidence in Raikage-dono's ability as well as those of his jinchuuriki, caution is recommendable in situations like these." Naruto nodded, it would be good to see Yugito and Bee anyway.

"You're right Gaara, but first there's something I have to do..." He turned, smiling at Tayuya as he rubbed away the hair on her neck to reveal the tri-tomoe mark that still lay there "...a promise I made a long time ago." Tayuya whimpered a little as his finger traced over the sensitive flesh but it wasn't noticeable enough for anybody but Naruto to see. "So I need to make a little stop in Konoha along the way." Gaara and Fuu raised their brow at his declaration while Matsuri just seemed rather caught up in the moment.

"Konoha?" Naruto nodded confidently.

"That's right. I need to speak with Sasuke Uchiha."

* * *

"I would ask you stay a few days, at least. You have only just returned, I'm sure there are a few people you would like to visit or say hello to." Naruto looked at his friend for a moment, thinking about his words as they walked down the corridor together. Tayuya and Matsuri had gone off somewhere, the redhead looking slightly more reluctant than her giggling companion. "As you said, you are in no rush, the Akatsuki will find you when they will, assuming they even know about the deaths of their companions." Naruto nodded with his face twisted into a small frown.

"We shouldn't start underestimating them now; the Zetsu Tayuya talked about is supposed to be almost as good a spy as Sasori's organisation." Gaara nodded, knowing this already but offering just the smallest glimmer of hope in an otherwise rather bleak time.

"Fine, but the point remains the same. Konoha is only two days away at best. You can leave in a few days. It will be good to catch up anyway." Naruto smiled warmly, nodding back at his friends as they continued through the empty mansion.

"Speaking of which..." Naruto's smile quickly formed into a smirk "...Matsuri, what's the story there?" If Gaara hadn't been wearing his sand armour Naruto would have been able to see his blush spread across his pale face.

"Yes, well, that's a long story." Naruto's smirk only grew.

"Well I _am _staying for a few days." Gaara eyed him with an irritated look before it softened and he chuckled.

"Yes well, I walked into that one didn't I?" Naruto just grinned cheerfully. "Where do I begin?" He looked down on thought before a small but genuine smile spread across his face. "Really I guess it started when we first met at the academy." Naruto looked at him in confusion and Gaara quickly clarified. "Not while we were there, later, after you left for your training trip. Her class was in their last year and I was coming to check in on everything to get used to my role at the time. Temari had expressed an interest in teaching, so naturally Kankuro tried it as well, however he quickly grew bored with it when none of the students appreciated his puppetry." Naruto laughed, imagining Kankuro getting the cold shoulder from genin younger than he was.

"I watched over them as they split the class into groups to begin weapons training; as a joke Temari offered me up as one of the sensei." He looked away, just the barest hints of sadness evident in his pupilless eyes. "At the time I was still new as the Kazekage, people still thought of me as I was before, in fact they seemed to get worse for a while when you left." Naruto also looked pained and placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"That's behind me now, I am the Kazekage and people respect me for it, I see it every day when I walk down the streets." Naruto smiled softly as Gaara returned to his normal self again, repressing the memories of a worse time. "Anyway, many of the students took what Temari said literally, but still nobody wanted me as a sensei. I was still the 'weapon', the dangerous boy their parents warned them from." Naruto felt a pang of sadness again, wondering how bad things would have been if he and Gaara had never found each other.

"However Matsuri stepped forward; later she told me it was because she was curious, mostly about my gourd but also because she saw something in me." He smiled again. "To this day she won't tell me what but nevertheless she stepped forward. Back then she was so against using weapons; her mother was killed in the last war and she never quite got over it. I tried to explain that a weapon was something used only to protect those you care about." He smiled as he looked up "Something you taught me in fact." Naruto returned the smile as they carried on through the corridors.

"In fact it took...

* * *

"...me getting kidnapped to actually get over my fear of weapons." Tayuya looked at the girl curiously; Matsuri may have been a year younger than her but she showed a remarkable maturity for a girl of fifteen. "I was used as bait. A group sought him out to test his status as the 'ultimate weapon' against their own. As his student they thought I would be the best bait to draw him out of the village." Tayuya nodded having heard Gaara speak of something like that off hand on the day she came back.

"He saved me of course, fighting off everybody who kidnapped me; he even got me over my fear of weapons." She looked down quietly "But I still wouldn't want to kill somebody with them." Tayuya nodded despite not really understanding where the girl as coming from, she had no inhibitions against killing as long as it was for the right reasons liked protecting people she cared about or fulfilling the mission. Even so, she respected Matsuri in a way for at least sticking to her beliefs; she had heard of ANBU members who had gone their entire careers without a kill.

"After that everything sort of went back to normal for a while, like nothing had ever happened at all. Gaara continued to train me whenever he could; I understood he was busy as the Kazekage but he always found time. Whenever I asked how he could do it he always told me just to thank Naruto for some reason." Tayuya smirked a little at the inside joke while Matsuri looked at her confusedly before turning back to the corridor. "I always respected Gaara, without my mother around I was never really told to stay away from him but I was shy and the other children were so afraid of him. "She looked down sadly.

"I guess I caved a little to peer-pressure but I still respected him, and Naruto, for what they held inside of them and what they had to endure. I don't even know when it turned into something more; we spent a lot of time together so I suppose it was only natural." Tayuya smiled at that.

"Yeah, I can understand that." Matsuri smirked suggestively but didn't pry; Tayuya's love of privacy was well known to everybody around her at the academy.

"I still remember when he..."

* * *

"...first asked her out to dinner. I was a nervous wreck. Usually I would ask you for support in situation like those, or maybe Tayuya for some advice. Instead I had to go to Kankuro; that was a mistake I won't be repeating." Naruto just laughed, wiping a tear from his eyes, Kankuro spent just a little too much time around puppets, the line between flesh and wood blurred a bit after so much dedication. He was hardly the person to go to concerning advice about women.

"He told me to take her somewhere fancy and expensive; it just became awkward because neither of us knew what to say. Eventually we left, still not having said a word to each other until we reached her house." He smiled, looking wistfully out of a window they passed as if he could see the spot from the vantage point. "I was about to turn and leave when she planted a small kiss on my cheek." His small smile turned into something akin to a grin for Gaara.

"She had to spit the sand out of her mouth as I apologised, profusely." Naruto imagined the scene and his laughter only increased "She asked if she could do it again without the sand armour and ever since then our relationship has only improved." Naruto nodded happily, he was genuinely glad that Gaara had found someone in the way he had found Tayuya, at least after he had finally realised just what she meant to him.

"Then, a year and a half later..."

* * *

"...he proposed. It was the most romantic day of my life..." A small blush covered her face as she looked down with a small smirk "...and the most romantic night." Tayuya blushed a little as well at the implication. "It couldn't have been more perfect; he took me up to the top of the walls where he had prepared a picnic for us." Tayuya raised an eyebrow at that, a picnic didn't really sound like Gaara's thing; he must have asked Temari.

"Then he raised a dome of sand over us so that the moon acted like a floodlight on just the two of us, like the rest of the world didn't exist." Her face softened as it turned nostalgic before returning to its usual mischievous smile "And then of course there was the ring." She coughed and raised her hand up nonchalantly, but in a manner that obviously showed of the gleaming gem adorning her finger. The large diamond was set on a band of gold that looked like two intertwining ribbons that swirled in intricate spirals and patterns that were almost dizzying to follow. Tayuya was never one for jewellery but even she had to admit it was a beautiful ring.

"Plus, the sex is amazing."

* * *

Naruto lazed in the comfy chair, idly spinning a kunai on the tip of his finger; he was beginning to see the benefit of the tri-pronged design. They were perfect for close combat because they could be used to disarm opponents and they were heavier than a normal kunai. That little fact also meant it could travel further through the air when thrown which made them perfect for their primary purpose. They were slightly less aerodynamic which took a toll on their accuracy but the Hiraishin and Fujin no Iki didn't really require that much accuracy.

"So how did you get Temari to agree to set that whole picnic thing up anyway? It's not like her to help someone out for free, even her brother." Gaara continued to look out the window, idly musing on something as a few shadow clones moved about the office, tidying and sorting documents.

"She asked to be put in charge of the Chuunin Exams this year. She didn't say why and I didn't ask." Naruto just nodded, he would ask his fellow blonde Suna shinobi later anyway.

"Wait, aren't they in Konoha this time?" Gaara just nodded.

"How did you know?" Naruto shrugged with a smile.

"I had to keep aware of news while I was gone, in case there were any good training opportunities." Gaara took a deep breath, signifying that he had heard Naruto but didn't look away from the window.

"Strange, you told me a lot about your time in Kumogakure, and even your stint in the Land of Water but you haven't spoken much of the second year of your training." Naruto shrugged idly, still focused on the kunai in his hand as he tried to add another to a second finger.

"Me and Fuu moved around a lot, didn't really stay in the same place for longer than a month. We got jobs where we could for money, helped a couple folks out, even got a place in a movie at one point." Gaara raised an eyebrow but still didn't turn.

"Umm let's see, restored a princess to her throne and overthrew a tyrant. We went to a country to the south of the elemental nations where they don't use chakra but this weird green rock thing. Had a brief stint in prison if you'd believe it, a technicality mostly but it all worked out. Met another swordsman of the mist, beat him and took his swords." He grinned as he patted a seal on his side, "Oh and I visited Hoshigakure. Fuu made a few friends before we had to leave because of some instability, we did end up overthrowing the Hoshikage though, weird village that one." As he spoke he seemed to count off the events on his fingers, his eyes roaming around as he tried to think of anything else the two of them did after leaving Mei and her rebels.

"Umm, after that we went back to Kiri for a while to see how it was going, the war was over by then and the rebels were still celebrating. I almost regret not staying to help them out but I guess it all worked out in the end. Mei's the new Mizukage which is cool." Gaara just nodded, the information wasn't new to him and he had already sent envoys to Mei for talks of an alliance. Iwa wouldn't like all the other countries being in an alliance they wanted no part in and was currently vying with Suna for the rights to a treaty. Now that Gaara knew Naruto had a personal connection to the new Mizukage he could possibly use that in his favour. It was slightly manipulative but sometimes he had to put the village first; his role as Kazekage was clear to him.

"Then after that we went back to Kumo for a bit to let Bee and Yugito know how our training was going before we came back here." Gaara nodded, taking all of this in; it was obviously a hurried and abridged version but he could ask about his adventures in more depth later.

"It sounds... eventful." Naruto just nodded happily.

"Yeah, made a lot of friends..." His smile turned into a small frown as he looked down at the finely carpeted floor "...lost a lot of good friends too." Gaara finally turned from his position at the window, looking at Naruto with sadness.

"It comes as part of the job Naruto, you should know that." The blonde nodded tiredly and looked up with a faint smile after drawing a deep breath.

"I know Gaara, it inspires me to train harder so I don't have to see it again." Gaara smiled, glad that Naruto was at least learning from his various hardships instead of getting lost in them like so many good Shinobi did. "I'm kind of tired, yesterday was pretty exhausting and I didn't get much sleep, I'll go see if Tayuya wants to go to bed yet." Gaara just nodded impassively, returning to his musings at the window as Naruto got up to leave.

* * *

"You know-" Naruto pulled away from another kiss "-I came here-" Tayuya was doing her best attempt to prevent him from talking as her soft lips assailed his own "-to ask you-" She was really trying hard now "-if you wanted to sleep." Tayuya pulled away, panting only lightly with a smile on her face as her hungry eyes looked him over.

"Ahh what's the fun in that?" Her smile darkened mischievously. "Besides, you owe me for last night anyway. That Akatsuki prick made us stop half way through." Naruto just shrugged and leaned forward for another kiss, all of a sudden he wasn't feeling that tired anyway. After last night he had grown slightly bolder as he placed his hand on Tayuya's chest, his soft fondling making her grind into his crotch even harder as she moaned into his mouth.

Clothes were discarded without abandon as to the two of them soon found themselves topless, still rolling around on the bed, locked at the lips. One of Naruto's hands was still firmly on Tayuya's exposed breast, kneading it to her pleasure and occasionally pinching the nipple to make her scream out in surprise and delight. His other hand was less committed to one area, roaming her abdomen as it trailed nonsensical paths across her toned stomach.

Eventually it trailed lower, as if drawn by some strange magnetism that called out to out as it gently slipped underneath the fabric of Tayuya's shorts. She whimpered slightly, still tightly clasped to his face with her soft lips and frantic tongue, as his fingers swirled through her neatly trimmed hair. His index finger made slow movements, never quite touching her precious area as he teased a reaction out of her, simply circling it with feather-like touches.

"Mmhpph Naruto, please mmhmph" He smiled into her lips as she gave him all the permission he needed as he gladly obliged her. He slipped one finger further down and lightly trailed across her lips, rubbing her small nub as he came up each time earning him louder and louder moans of approval. Finally he felt he teased her enough and entered one finger in, still marvelling at how her soft inner walls gripped his single digit tightly.

He continued to move about inside her; stroking, rubbing, curling his finger and generally doing everything in his power to stimulate the red-haired beauty in front of him. Her moans and cries of pleasure were only muffled by his own mouth and if that failed he had made sure to place a privacy seal on their room beforehand. She broke their intimate kiss, closing her eyes and biting her lip as she rode his hand, giving him a nice opportunity to slip a second finger in, smiling as her face lit up and her breaths came out even more laboured.

"Oh Kami Naruto!" He captured her lips again before she could scream out anymore, effectively silencing her. He smirked into the kiss again as he tried to focus his concentration, having wanted to try this out ever since he had thought about it last night. Steadily he began to collect his chakra where he could, channelling it around his body so that he knew where it was. In one sudden push he focused it all into his fingers, the effects becoming apparent immediately.

Tayuya bucked wildly into his hand, her body thrashing in the throes of passion; her moans became even louder such that he was having trouble keeping her quiet. After a good three minutes of this Tayuya fell limply against the bed, panting heavily but smiling as she felt her juices leak out after such a tremendous orgasm. He skin was practically glowing and a thin sheen of sweat covered her entire exposed body, staining the sheets beneath them.

"Fuck Shithead, that was intense. I hope you're not done." She made a move for the waistband of his pants before his hand caught her wrist and he looked at her with a gaze she didn't recognise. It was akin to reluctance but it wasn't quite that, it almost looked like concern.

"Are you sure about this Tayuya? I mean, we don't have to if you don't want to." She looked up at him, smiling like he was just being silly and continued to tug at his pants while his hands remained firm. "I mean it Tayuya, I want both of us to be ready when we first... you know." Tayuya still felt confident but Naruto's words began to affect her. The post-orgasmic haze was lifting form her mind and she began to evaluate her own actions more carefully. She sighed as she let go, Naruto still looking worried about her as her head dropped.

"Yeah, maybe you're right, we shouldn't rush things. Hell, we've only been back with each other for a few days." Naruto just nodded slowly, trying his best at a comforting smile as Tayuya flopped onto the bed, making sure to pull the blonde with her. She turned, resting on her hand with her elbow on the bed as she looked at Naruto. "Sometimes you're too selfless for your own good; you know that right?" He just nodded sheepishly with a small smile as he planted a chaste kiss on her cheek. He moved to go back down to the bed but Tayuya just grinned and grabbed his head, pulling herself on top of him as she leaned in for a deeper more passionate kiss.

"Hey, we may not be doing it tonight but that doesn't mean we're fucking done here."


	43. Chapter 43

"Hurry up Oniisan, they're catching up!" Naruto just huffed as he continued to hop across the tree branches, ducking low to make sure he didn't clothesline Fuu on the lower ones.

"Of course they're catching up! He's just as fast as I am!" Fuu just lightly slapped him on the head, urging him on as he mentally shrugged and increased the pace slightly. He was thankful for his ungodly stamina at this point as without it he would never have made this kind of journey in a single day.

"Come on Oniisan! I think I can see the gate!" Naruto looked up and sure enough the very outline of the walls had come into view through the obscuring trees. It gave him a final spurt of energy to pick up the pace even more and barrel on through the trees. His breath was heavy and coming out in gasps now but he could nearly taste the sweet air at the end. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him as a red blur caught up to them; he tried to urge his muscles on even more but they were sluggish and unresponsive from exhaustion.

The red blur overtook them just as they all burst out of the tree line, Naruto falling to the floor as the other figure finally turned around smirking down at him and Fuu on his back. Naruto just groaned as he looked up, straight into his own smug whiskered face and Tayuya's above it.

"Sorry bud, but the original's always better than the clone." The clone that Fuu straddled just grumbled some more before bursting out of existence, giving Naruto a few odd thoughts as its memories were transferred. Tayuya just smiled victoriously, cheering with both hands clasped together as she shook them above her head. Fuu pouted from her position on the floor, having fallen over as the clone dispersed into smoke and landing on her ass.

"It's not fair, why does Tayuya get the real you Oniisan?" Naruto just shrugged while Tayuya continued to cheer to nobody in particular.

"Sorry imouto, I have to do what Tayuya says, it's part of being a boyfriend." Fuu pouted again, her irresistible eyes making Naruto want to go over and console her with a hug but Tayuya beat him to it. After hopping off his back and walking over to the younger girl she placed a firm arm around her shoulders and whispered something in her ear. If Naruto had tried he could have made it out but from the way it turned Fuu's face tomato red he was glad he didn't.

They walked toward the gates in silence, Fuu seemingly shocked by what she was told and Tayuya smiling innocently while Naruto buried his face in his palm. He slunk back with her, leaving Fuu to walk a few feet in front of them.

"I wish you wouldn't do that with her, she's only thirteen." Tayuya just looked at him with those same big innocent eyes that he swore she had stolen from Fuu in the last few days.

"Whatever are you talking about Naruto_-kun?"_ He just sighed and smiled weakly, at least glad she had added the suffix if only in a mocking way.

"Nothing, come on Tayuya-chan." He walked a bit faster, catching up with Fuu as they reached the gates, pulling the two chuunin out of their semi-lucid state. They seemed familiar to him and he quickly realised that it was because they were the same two guards that had been at this post the last time he was here. He winced internally; he couldn't imagine being stuck in the same boring job for two years and wondered who they pissed off to get an assignment like that.

"Business in Konohagakure?" Kotetsu said in a bored tone, not really paying attention to the new visitors as Izumo scrutinised them more closely, trying to think where he had seen the blonde and redhead before. He seemed to draw a blank but continued to look at Naruto oddly before looking at the Hokage monument that was just in view from the gate. He shook his head before returning to the book he had been reading, mumbling something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'impossible'.

"Uhh, just visiting from Sunagakure to deliver a message from the Kazekage to the Hokage." Kotetsu just nodded languidly, there were so many messengers coming through the gates he barely even registered them anymore.

"Fine, fine, sign here then." Naruto did so; it wasn't like he was lying, Gaara really did have a message of some kind for Tsunade but he just left out that he was going to speak to her as well. They moved on, walking through the main street of the village that headed straight for the Hokage tower. Both he and Tayuya wanted to visit Hana and Anko but they figured it could wait until after their business was done.

As they walked all three began to notice that Naruto was getting incredulous and curious looks from a lot of the villagers they walked past, especially the older ones. It began to seriously unnerve Naruto as he saw them begin to mutter under their breaths to one another, just out of his earshot although he could catch the occasional word like 'Hokage' or 'Fourth'. Tayuya was also looking around, worrying that the people might recognise Naruto and lynch him or something. Fuu seemed mainly oblivious but she was trying to ignore the people anyway, not particularly fond of lots of people she didn't know. There was a mutual sigh of relief between them as they reached the tower, closing the door on the suspicious and whispering crowds outside.

"Well that was fucking weird, what was their problem?" Neither Fuu nor Naruto could answer her so they moved up their stairs in silence, pondering what this meant for Naruto now he was back in the village. It took a few minutes to verify the authenticity of the letter from Gaara before they were let in so they had to sit on a couch outside the Hokage's office.

"Do you think they recognise me?" Tayuya shook her head slowly, thinking about the question herself.

"It can't be. You've been gone for ten years, there's no way they would remember you. They barely even noticed you the last time we were here." Naruto nodded in agreement, his presence during the Chuunin Exams was kept to a minimum; Sarutobi saw to that. He went back to thinking about it before the secretary motioned them all into the office. Naruto put the thoughts out of his mind for now, put a smile on his face and stepped into the office.

He sweatdropped when he noticed that Tsunade was asleep at her desk, drooling over some documents like he hadn't been gone for two years at all. He coughed loudly; getting no response he tried it again, even louder this time. Tsunade stirred but didn't wake up.

"HEY TSUNADE!" The woman jerked up in her chair sending a few sheets of paper flying around the room like snow from the sky. She had a line of drool coming from the corner of her mouth and she looked particularly tired. _'Well, she didn't work out the shadow clone technique to paperwork, that's for sure.'_ He waited for a moment as Tsunade got her bearings and Fuu giggled quietly to herself. She found that this Kage didn't intimidate her in the slightest, she was far too funny. Tsunade peered around the room groggily until her eyes rested on Naruto, opening wide in shock.

"Minat-?" She peered even closer as if she could pierce the veil of her drunken stupor just by willing it away. "Naruto?" Said blonde just nodded happily, grinning at the young-looking woman. "What are you doing here, and when did you grow up so much?" Naruto continued his smile, he enjoyed the shocked reactions people gave to his change, the Raikage's still his favourite. Tayuya took that moment to practically drape herself around Naruto's neck from behind.

"I know, gorgeous isn't he?" She said it an obviously provocative manner, earning a raised eyebrow from Tsunade and a sigh of annoyance from Fuu. The younger girl had grown to become irritated every time Tayuya would make a lewd or suggestive comment about Naruto around her. Of course the redhead was doing it purely for her own amusement to get reactions out of people, just like now as Tsunade stared across at them from behind her paperwork-ridden desk.

"Yes well, age changes us all doesn't it?" Naruto smirked in amusement at that, it seemed rather ironic coming from the fifty-something year old woman who didn't look a day over twenty currently. "Now I assume you're here for more than just a visit, I'm sure Gaara's a busy Kazekage and can't keep sending his shinobi off on errant errands." Naruto just nodded and tossed her the scroll; he didn't know what was on it but he didn't really care all that much, probably some boring economical thing he wouldn't care about anyway.

"Really, just a scroll? You been demoted or something?" Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Nah, Gaara couldn't take away my rank if he tried." He chuckled, knowing that Gaara would never do that to him; threaten him with it maybe but never actually go through with it. "We were coming this way anyway so he thought we might as well, I can move faster than most." Tsunade raised a brow, her lips tugging into a tight smirk.

"Yes, I heard you can even give the Raikage a run for his money in the speed department." Naruto just shrugged, not wanting to tell her that he was now even faster than A, having beaten his highest speeds a few months ago. "So where were you heading that made you so ideal a messenger?" Naruto smiled sheepishly, he had hoped she wouldn't ask that.

"Kumogakure." Tsunade let out a small huff of a laugh in bemusement.

"Hardly 'on the way' don't you think?" Naruto shrugged but Tsunade's eyes became a bit more serious as they took in his tense posture. "Naruto, why are you really here?" Naruto seemed to tense even more before his whole body seemed to slump in defeat; he hadn't been sure how to broach the topic anyway and this was better than nothing.

"I want to see Sasuke Uchiha." Tsunade went back to having one eyebrow raised in curiosity while her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"And why would you be looking to speak to one of our prisoners?" Naruto's eyes widened slightly, he hadn't expected them to imprison Sasuke, at least not for this long anyway.

"Actually, I was hoping to examine his curse mark. There are a few tests I want to run on it, see if I can come up with a counter seal or even a way of removing it entirely." Tsunade scrutinized him, looking for any deception in his voice of face but found none. Naruto wasn't a very good liar, or at least most believed that was true, in actuality he was so good at lying that people believed that he couldn't tell a lie to save his life.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." Naruto's face twisted into a small frown, he hadn't expected her to deny him; it wasn't like he was going to hurt the Uchiha, much.

"If it's about-" Tsunade raised a hand to quiet him before continuing.

"I can't help you because Sasuke is no longer in Konoha." Naruto closed his mouth, looking at the Hokage curiously. "About a month after he was placed in the ANBU jail a squad of Oto-nin led by Kabuto Yakushi infiltrated the village and took off with him. At the time he was undergoing a lot of mental and psychological evaluation with the Yamanaka clan so he was declared a bit unstable. After that Orochimaru essentially went into hiding, we've heard barely anything from him in the past two years." Naruto cursed in his head, this set his plans back a lot, now he would have to take a lot more time examining Tayuya's mark, time he didn't have if Akatsuki had their way.

"Are you sure-?" Tsunade raised a hand for him to quieten down again.

"Listen Naruto, if you are really set on going after Sasuke your best bet is to find Orochimaru. If I'm right then the snake bastard's plans revolve a lot around the young Uchiha. You aren't one of my ninja, but Suna and Konoha are allies and thanks to your friend the Kazekage and all his treaties with the other nations Konoha has never been in a bigger financial boom. That means I am allowed to let slip information every now and then, to repay the favour if you will. Rumours have it that the snake will be moving on the Sanbi. After the Mizukage and previous jinchuuriki Yagura was overthrown it was let loose, and he is presumed dead." She leaned back from her position on the desk, her conspiratorial whisper returning to her usual voice.

"But aside from all that it really is good to see you Naruto. If you plan on staying around the village then we should catch up." She smiled warmly and Naruto returned it while inside he was running through the information she had given him. He smirked internally. _'Looks like we're going back to Kirigakure.' _He nodded in Tsunade's direction and she nodded back, letting them know they could leave now.

Outside it didn't take long for Tayuya and Naruto to look at each other and nod with a smile before setting off at a fast pace towards Anko's apartment building. They jumped across the rooftops this time to avoid the odd and penetrating looks of the villagers. This actually improved their travelling speed and they made it across the village in only a few minutes, having to slow down a bit to let Fuu catch up. She might have had stamina nearly comparable to Naruto and Bee but she lacked the speed that kept them out of her league.

When they arrived at the familiar green door that marked Anko's apartment and knocked, they received no reply. Tayuya knocked even harder but again they got no reply, she just turned to Naruto and shrugged.

"Maybe she's on a mission." Naruto was a little down heartened; he had been looking forward to seeing Anko again, and beating her in a spar. Just as they were about to turn away the heard the sound of the lock clicking on the other side of the door and it opened with a slow creak.

"Yeag, what id it?" Anko poked her head around the door, the top of a blanket evident around the bottom of her neck. She didn't look particularly healthy, her skin was a little pale and there were large bags under her eyes. From the way she spoke she had a blocked nose and looked at any moment like she was going to be sick. Her blurry vision took a moment to focus on the new arrivals and wondered if she had begun hallucinating if the Fourth Hokage was standing at her doorstep.

"Hi Anko-sensei." Naruto gave a cheery wave at the sickly-looking woman as she peered at him closer, obviously struggling with keeping her vision straight.

"N-Narudo?" He smiled and nodded, the action seemingly making the purple-haired woman a bit queasy as she turned a pale shade of green. "Whaddar you guys doing ghere" She sniffed loudly, sucking back a large piece of phlegm that made all three teens cringe a little, nobody liked being sick. Anko looked around the hallway, barely even noticing Fuu as she scanned their surroundings. "Well you mighd as well come in." She sneezed onto her blanket before moving aside to let them in.

Naruto and Tayuya were immediately hit by a wave of nostalgia from the time they spent here during their stint in Konoha, Everything was where they remembered but there were a few more knickknacks lying about on the shelves and sofa. Anko enjoyed taking mementos from her various missions and displaying them around her apartment like little trophies. She shuffled in after them, securely wrapped up in a blanket that forced her to take small measured steps to get around. They all sat down on the couch with Anko flopping down next to them closest to the box of tissues.

"So Anko, what happened to you?" The woman chuckled but the action sent her into a fit of violent coughs that made Naruto shy away from her slightly.

"Turns oud thad Hayate wasn't faking id for once, basdard sneezed on me during a mizzan a few days ago." Naruto and Fuu couldn't really sympathise with her, being physically incapable of getting ill but Tayuya managed to send a small comforting pat Anko's way, she hated being sick more than most, especially because Naruto couldn't. Anko just screwed up her eyes for a moment before letting out a large sneeze as she melted back into the couch, really becoming bothered with the illness.

"So whad are you guys duing back here?" Naruto turned on the couch, carefully staying a little distance away from Anko.

"We were passing through and thought it would be a good idea to come and see you." Anko smiled in the way only somebody sick could do and captured Naruto in a very weak hug,

"Aww, well isn'd thad sweed." She let him go, looking over him appraisingly, some of the old glint coming back into her eye. "You know Narudo, you god preddy hod." She smiled seductively but it didn't quite come out that way with her pallid complexion and slightly bloodshot eyes. "If Tayuya becomes doo droublesome then I'm always around." She smiled again but had to break away to blow her nose loudly. Tayuya found the scene so hilarious she couldn't even berate Anko for what she said while Naruto just laughed nervously.

"Thanks Anko, I'll keep that in mind." He looked over at Tayuya apologetically while she just shrugged, looking rather indifferent to the whole thing. "So how have you been?" Anko finished blowing her nose, taking a peek inside the tissue which once again made everybody cringe before she threw it in the bin with the rest of its kind.

"Bid of this, bid of thad, made Jounin. By the way if you're going do see Hana, don'd bother, she's on a mission." Naruto nodded with a smile, he was glad she was promoted, he felt as though she deserved it. She seemed to be nodding off as she spoke, her eyelids drooping as her words became slower and more drawn out. Eventually she could barely keep them open before she dropped onto the couch while the other three just looked at her dozing form incredulously.

"Well that wasn't how I fucking expected it to go." Naruto could only nod in agreement. "Now what?" Naruto shrugged before looking back at Anko's sleeping form. He sighed and hefted her into a bridal carrying position, getting a huff from Tayuya as he carried the sleeping Jounin across the apartment to her bedroom. The gentle swaying motions he made with his arms seemed to momentarily wake her up and she opened her eyes slowly, noticing she as now in her room, being carried.

"My, my Narudo, gedding a bid forward aren'd we?" Naruto just blushed but kept moving forward, hoping Anko would fall back to sleep so she wouldn't keep embarrassing him. Sure enough her eyelids started to droop again and she looked ready to fall back into slumber as he placed her gently underneath her purple bed sheets. "Id was good seeing you Narudo; if you see Orochimaru again, kick him in the nuds for me." With that she promptly passed out, snoring softly into the pillow as a small trail of drool edged its way out of the corner of her mouth.

"Sure thing Anko." He smiled at her; it would have been adorable to see the usually frightening woman so peaceful if he couldn't see the slight glint of the kunai under her pillow. He moved back out into the apartment, gently closing the door behind him. Tayuya had her arms folded across her chest, obviously annoyed at the way Naruto was with Anko. He sighed, knowing he was going to receive some form of punishment later but didn't say anything.

"Okay guys, we can stay here for a while or we can head out early for the Land of Water." Tayuya thought about it for a moment before looking out the window on the other side of the room.

"We might as well just go, I don't really want to keep seeing people give you those strange looks and we should catch up to the Sanbi before Orochi-pedo gets his hands on it somehow." Naruto nodded, acknowledging her points before turning to Fuu expectantly. She seemed to want to look around the village some more but she looked across at Tayuya who seemed impatient to leave and just nodded. Naruto smiled at his girls, not that he would ever call them that out loud, and nodded with enthusiasm.

"Okay then, if we leave now we should be able to get to Wave by nightfall." He looked across at Fuu sheepishly who just looked down embarrassedly. "And hopefully this time we can actually go where we intended to go." Fuu blushed and started for the door, quickly followed by Tayuya who just wanted to go. Finally Naruto gave one last look around the apartment before smiling and gently shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Naruto had wanted to show Fuu the view of Konoha from the Hokage monument but he thought that leaving quickly would probably be for the best. As they walked down the streets they continued to get glares of mistrust and suspicion that were beginning to drive Naruto crazy. He was tempted to turn to them and demand to know what it was they kept whispering about but he knew that would be a mistake. He needed to keep as low a profile as he could; there was no use in drawing attention to himself.

Unconsciously the trio quickened their pace to the gates, mindful to stay to more out of the way routes through less crowded alleyways. They reached the gates slower than they would have liked, knowing that roof hopping would have also garnered the attention of the local ANBU. He let out a small sigh of relief as he finally stepped outsides the gates and what felt like the oppressive confines of Konohagakure.

There wasn't much to say between the three of them as they moved through the forest, all of them too lost in their own thoughts from their brief experience in Konoha. Tayuya was staring at the back of Naruto's head, watching his spiky hair bob up and down as he leapt from tree to tree. Out of nowhere a kunai lodged itself directly in Naruto's torso, followed by a multitude of others that all made a sickening thud when they landed. Tayuya nearly cried out in shock but was smart enough to duck out of the way of the ten or so Kunai aimed in her direction.

She managed a small sigh of relief as Naruto's seemingly lifeless body burst into a log, embedded with all the kunai. She ducked into a nearby clearing, what appeared to be an old abandoned training ground, overgrown with weeds and the encroaching flora of the forest. Her eyes darted around as Fuu landed next to her, worrying about her big brother even though she had seen him get away with a quick substitution jutsu.

Suddenly a man flew out of the tree line, or more accurately he was thrown out, and landed painfully at the centre, his leg obviously injured. He tried to hobble away while Tayuya and Fuu watched in morbid fascination; he was quickly halted as a very recognisable kunai shot from the direction he had been thrown from and pinned the man by his cloak to a nearby tree. Naruto jumped into view, not a scratch on his person and looking extremely angry; he had seen the kunai aimed for Tayuya and had quickly caught this man, not even bothering to play with him first.

"Who are you and why did you attack us?" His voice was even but you could definitely hear the strain that had to use to keep the anger from infecting his words. Now that he was out of the forest he could see the man better, not that there was much to see. He wore a shapeless black cloak which covered most of his form, only leaving his sandal-clad feet on display. His face was hidden by a pristine porcelain mask which was inscribed to look like some demonised animal, almost like an ANBU operative but not quite.

The man looked up at him without uttering a word, or at least his mask tilted up, the eye holes were darkened to the point that Naruto couldn't tell where his eyes were looking. Naruto knew what was about to happen as he felt the man's smirk from behind the mask but couldn't react to stop it. Everybody heard a subtle crunch before the man convulsed violently, ending up limp on the floor. Naruto sighed, knowing this was an effective strategy for withholding information but he didn't know that many people who would actually be willing to go through with it.

Sure enough when he removed the mask to reveal an ordinary, but very pale face he saw the hints of foam at the corners of his mouth. He cursed while looking over the mask, it was definitely ANBU-issue but the animal was all wrong, they weren't supposed to look intimidating, just help with knowing who was who considering their identities were classified. He hated poison; it made everything so inconvenient for him, now he wouldn't know why this man had even attacked them.

He threw the mask down at the man in disgust, the simple porcelain object hitting the man in the face enough to make it loll to the side and his mouth to open. Naruto was about to turn around before he noticed the most peculiar thing about his tongue; it seemed to have a tattoo on it. Tayuya looked at him oddly as he bent down and steadied the man's face with his hand before opening his mouth. He grimaced as he reached in and pulled out the tongue, reaffirming his earlier observation of the black markings adorning the man's tongue.

Now that he could look closer though it was apparent it was in fact a seal, a very high quality one too. He could see the workings of a silencing array built in to be set off at a certain trigger word which he couldn't discern. He also saw a kill-switch worked in there, well hidden beneath other such suppression and information-blocking seals. In all it was like a slave collar, just without the actual collar itself and it made Naruto wonder just what type of person would allow a seal like this to be placed on their body.

Pulling out a scroll that he liked to jot down notes on he copied out the seal, taking extra care to make sure everything was perfectly in place; he could examine it more later. Finally he stood up, just as Tayuya walked over, carefully examining the man for herself to make sure there weren't any hidden surprises for them. A ninja willing to commit suicide to save information might also carry explosive tags as a back-up measure.

"What are you doing?" Naruto just pointed down to the man where the seal was still visible on his lolling tongue. "A seal? What does it do?" She waited for a few more moments as Naruto finished copying out the seal in exquisite detail, using practised and perfected brush strokes to recreate it down to the last detail.

"Basically it's a kill-switch and a preventive measure to stop this man from speaking about certain things. From what I can tell it's directly connected to certain nerve in his brain and would probably completely paralyse him, preventing him from talking about specific things." Tayuya winced, also wondering why anybody would have their body imprinted with such a seal, unconsciously moving her own hand to rub the one adorning her neck. Naruto caught the subtle action, pre-empting her thoughts before she could voice them.

"No, I don't think it was forced on him. This would have prevented anybody from speaking about what it was their master wanted hidden but I could have removed it given time. No, he killed himself to protect the information, that shows loyalty to whatever the cause is..." he looked down at the body again "...or was. Whoever sent him knew I know fuinjutsu. This time it wasn't a threat, this guy was probably a chuunin but they could send out more." He sighed to himself, now they had this to worry about on top of everything else.

"Come on, if we wait around here to long we won't get to wave before nightfall." Tayuya looked at him, then back at the man on the floor before looking back to Naruto and walking past him. He gave a comforting smile to Fuu whose eyes were rooted on the dead man on the floor. He walked over and placed an arm around her shoulders, bending down slightly so he was on her level. "Come on Fuu, we have to go now." She seemed startled, coming out of her haze and looking at him questioningly making him sigh. He hated to take away her innocence like this but if it meant she was alive and safe then it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

"Come on, let's go." With a smile he picked her up with one arm and slung her onto his back, grinning up at her as she settled into a more comfortable position. "If we hurry then you can go see your friend Chojuro in another day." Fuu smiled and gripped Naruto's shoulders a little harder, giving him the go ahead to start running, something he gladly did.


	44. Chapter 44

Naruto said it when he was seven and he would gladly repeat it when he was sixteen; he hated mist. It was everywhere, smothering the landscape like the weather was actively trying to create an air of depression and hopelessness. The worst part was that due to some freak geography feature the mist had somehow become saturated in chakra. He couldn't see or smell more than a few feet in front of him and he hated relying purely on his hearing, especially when travelling through a place known for a technique called 'silent killing'.

Fuu and Tayuya were even more unnerved, lacking even hearing to go on, having to stick close to Naruto or risk getting lost completely. Naruto cursed constantly to himself, he knew he should have sent a message ahead and gotten a guide; too late now. He sighed for the umpteenth time and trudged on, doing his best to ignore the oppressive mist and stick to the somewhat obscured path that he hoped led to Kirigakure. _'Seriously, is Konoha the only hidden village actually easy to find?!'_

Of course Tayuya was more vocal in her cursing; swearing every few minutes when she tripped over something or nearly lost sight of Naruto. If there were enemy ninja watching them then she made it fairly easy for them to be found; he didn't stop her though, it was almost comforting to hear her voice even if it was just curse words. Fuu was much quieter having been here before and experienced these conditions on her last visit.

"Hey Shithead, are we fucking there yet or am I going to have to stop and ask for directions?!" Naruto's eyebrow twitched dangerously as he continued walking ahead.

"How the fuck should I know? We could be walking in circles!" He was becoming more irritable as the hours dragged on and it was partially true that he didn't know where they were going. He might have still had his sense of hearing intact but it didn't do him a lot of good when there was nothing to listen to except Tayuya bitching and moaning. "And we are not stopping for directions, I'll get us there!" Tayuya just huffed to herself and crossed her arms under her chest, mumbling to herself.

Fuu seemed to get more and more miserable as time passed; Naruto wondered if it was because of Chomei. If anything hated water more than an animal with fur it was an insect, knowing that they couldn't fly if their wings were laden with water. He cursed again as he slapped another mosquito that landed on his neck; it didn't seem to stop these ones though. He sighed to himself, letting his arms go limp in front of him as he strained his ears listening for any signs of a direction they could go in.

"Right, fuck this." Naruto's face set into a determined mask as he breathed in as deeply as he could, his chest expanding to accommodate all the air. He forced his shakra in, saturating his lungs with an equal measure of both his and Kurama's chakra. "Wind Style: Grand Great Breakthrough!" Naruto released an enormous gale from his lungs, comparable with a small hurricane as it blitzed through the landscape, clearing the fog and even ripping a few trees out of their roots.

Naruto smiled to himself as he looked around the now mist-free environment, panting a little from the weather-scale jutsu. Tayuya just gained a tick mark over her forehead as she looked around them.

"You couldn't have done that three fucking hours ago?!" Naruto just put a palm to his forehead, quelling his rising headache as best he could. He just motioned for them to move on before the mist settled around them again, he didn't fancy doing that jutsu every five minutes or so. Unfortunately they didn't plan on one thing; none of them knew at all where they were going. The problem with Kiri was that because of the mist; nobody could make an effective map of the place. The only true way to get in or out was experience or a guide, or sheer chance.

That meant that even though the three of them could now see more than a few feet in front of them, they were still hopelessly lost. Thankfully fate seemed to throw the trio a bone for once as two figures appeared in a nearby tree. Naruto's hand instinctively went for a kunai in his pouch but he froze when he got a better look at the new arrivals.

"Ao? Chojuro?" He received equally incredulous looks from the two Mist-nin as they looked over the now rather tired group.

"Naruto? Fu? And...?"

"Tayuya." Naruto quickly clarified for them, their faces turning into those of recognition and understanding.

"Hi Fuu." Fuu smiled warmly at the blue-haired swordsman causing a small blush to break out over the bridge of his nose.

"Hi Chojuro." He waved at her timidly and Naruto once again thought that he needed some serious confidence counselling, he was a swordsmen of the hidden mist but he certainly didn't act like one.

"I should have known it was you Naruto. Only you would be brash enough to simply dispel the mist around Kirigakure. You know in my day, we used to hire guides for this sort of thing and their pay would go towards helping the village." Naruto just nodded along, knowing that Ao was in lecture mode; he had never actually seen how long they lasted, Mei would usually threaten him with death before he could say much.

"So are you guys here to help us get to Kiri?" Ao shook his head, the earrings with the kanji for 'to hear' shaking as he did so.

"No, we were merely sent out here to investigate the high-level jutsu you used to clear the mist." Naruto smiled sheepishly and just shrugged innocently, Tayuya now giving him glares.

"Like I said, three fucking hours ago would have been nice!" Naruto kept his smile up, although it looked remarkably strained at this point; all this time walking through the mist had slowly worn down his last nerve.

"So can you guys help us get into Kiri now? We need to speak to Mei." Ao just nodded while Chojuro's attention appeared to be elsewhere, specifically Fuu who was just looking around the landscape.

"Of course, Mei always looks forward to your visits." Naruto smiled sheepishly again, this time out of embarrassment and just motioned for the two-Kiri-nin to lead on. The enlarged group quickly took off through the now much clearer and more visible surroundings.

* * *

In Naruto's personal and unspoken opinion Kirigakure was one of the most beautiful places he had ever visited and a small part of him said that he ever would. The elegant and perfectly crafted buildings reached up into the sky, the wet stone of the cylindrical buildings glistening with moisture that caught the light no matter what time of day it was. The village itself was rather spread out for one of the hidden villages, more relying on their mist to confuse and disorient any potential threats instead of walls.

The people of Kirigakure adopted a 'buildings are less precious than lives' approach to war, sometimes sacrificing entire districts for their guerrilla tactics. That didn't mean that they neglected their homes and through the early morning mist that was obvious to everybody standing atop the cliff that gave the best view of the village. In the centre of it all was a large circular building, resting atop great stone arches with a multitude of aqueducts sprouting from it like the focal point of a spider's web.

Naruto actually heard Tayuya's breath catch in the back of her throat as she looked out over the indescribable vista; exactly how he and Fuu had been on their first visit. Ao motioned them on, knowing that many of the Kiri shinobi didn't like foreign ninja standing around in their village. It was nothing personal but tensions were still a little high after the recently won civil war. There were no gates to Kiri anymore, the last ones having been destroyed in the last fight of the war so that the rebels could stream in and overwhelm the 'loyal' shinobi.

Everywhere you looked, despite the overall beauty of the place, you could see the evidence of conflict. There were scorch marks from excessive fire jutsu, walls caved in from pressure or explosions, sometimes entire buildings lying in rubble. Naruto sighed as he took in the sights, war was never a pretty thing; he had learnt that much in his brief life so far. People tried to glamorise it but the consequences were always the same, people died, families lost loved ones and people became homeless or starving.

They all entered the Mizukage tower, the three foreigners glad to be out of the ever-present chill the mist provided. On the contrary everybody in Kiri just seemed to be used to it, accepting the chill as if it was the most natural thing in the world, which to them it was. Supposedly the only time the mist had ever cleared from Kirigakure was when Mei fought against Yagura himself. Her lava release was supposed to be so powerful that it literally burned off the water vapour out of the air, although it only lasted a few days.

They finally made it to the Mizukage's office, having to wait outside until the timid-looking secretary made sure Mei wasn't busy with anything. They were ushered in after they heard a few angry words from inside the office that sent the secretary scurrying away through the building. Ao and Chojuro stepped in first, taking their rightful place at Mei's side as she looked painfully down at the piling paperwork on her desk.

"Aargh, I can see why Yagura lost it now; there's no end to this damn paper! AND WHY IS IT ALWAYS SOGGY!" She slammed a fist in to her desk and Naruto noticed the wood creak dangerously under the impact making a trickle of cold sweat run down his neck at seeing the angered woman. Ao coughed into his hand loudly, which caused Mei to look up, not having realised people had even entered her office. She made to look around at Ao but Naruto's mop of blonde hair caught her attention first. Her scowl quickly melted away into a genuinely relieved look as she took in the young Uzumaki.

"Naruto, Fuu, it's really good to see the two..." She looked around and finally spotted Tayuya whom was amusedly observing the stressed Mizukage until now. "Who are you?" Ao leant down and whispered something in Mei's ear and a look of recognition overcame her face. "Oooh, so you're the girl Naruto wouldn't stop talking about while he was here, really knew how to put a lot of the Kiri girls down that boy." Said blonde just chuckled sheepishly while Tayuya just blushed, looking over at her boyfriend questioningly.

She stood up from the desk, completely ignoring the paperwork which was her plan from the start and walked over to the trio. Before Naruto and Fuu even knew what was happening they found themselves embraced in a one-armed hug each, both being pressed into Mei's impressive endowments without her realising. Ao just raised an eyebrow, a disapproving look coming over his eyes as they nostalgically looked back to the past.

"Really Mei, that's most improper. In my day a woman hugging another man would get them some strange looks unless they were married..." Of course all Mei's selective hearing caught of that was "woman...man...get...married." In a move so fast Naruto honestly believed Mei had copied the Hiraishin she was across the room with her lips close to Ao's ear.

"Ao, shut up or I'll kill you." The room went deathly quiet with Ao wondering just what he had done this time, the rest of the room merely sweat-dropping at the out of the blue threat. Mei turned around, her stern features set back into a happy smile as she walked back around the desk.

"Well, what do I owe the pleasure Naruto, Fuu, and Tayuya?" Naruto smiled awkwardly, glad that the tension was lifted but still just a little freaked out by how bipolar Mei could be sometimes.

"Actually, we came to ask about the Sanbi. We understand that it was released when Yagura was killed." Mei looked down in a little sadness, Yagura had been her friend once, it had pained her to have to kill him like she did.

"Yes, it was released; we were by the shore when Yagura died, the Sanbi disappeared into the waters." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she took in the trio. "What is the Sand's business with the Sanbi?" Naruto shook his head quickly.

"No, no, this isn't about the village, we are only here to make sure Orochimaru doesn't get his hands on the Sanbi and to get some information of his whereabouts." Mei sighed to herself, walking across the room and flopping down in her large comfy chair.

"Well at least that confirms the sightings of Sound ninja around the coast." Naruto's eyebrow raised, that meant Orochimaru was in fact making a move, and soon it seemed. "I have no idea what the snake thinks he can do with a tailed-beast, I hope the thing rips his head off." Naruto had also been wondering that, the only thing that made sense was for Orochimaru to be planning on making a jinchuuriki. If Naruto could help it he wasn't going to allow that to happen; he wouldn't let another poor child live like he had, especially with Orochimaru.

"We are currently much too busy with the repairs, fortifications and missions to investigate the rumours but if you're willing to take care of the problem I have no problem in letting you know the details." Naruto nodded his head in thanks. "Supposedly the sightings have all been along the eastern coast of the main island, near to where Yagura died. It makes sense to start a search there but in my opinion the Sanbi is probably long gone."

"_**As if, Isobu was the laziest bastard I've ever met even for a turtle. I bet he hasn't moved more than a few hundred feet from where he was released. That big turtle is so docile it makes me wonder how we even came from the same chakra source." **_Naruto looked over at Fuu and from her distant expression he could tell she was receiving similar information from Chomei.

"_Are you sure Kurama?" _Kyuubi didn't say anything but he could feel the nod from inside his mindscape.

"Thank you Mizukage-sama, we'll start looking there." Mei just groaned at the name, looking like she seriously wanted to melt something at that point.

"Please, I've told you before, call me Mei. Mizukage makes me sound so..." She scrunched up her face in disgust "...old." Naruto just nodded with a smirk, Mei's insecurities about her age and marriage were well known throughout the Land of Water, not that anybody would dare talk about it around her. Mei motioned to Ao with a hand and he stepped forward from his position behind here, still weary of her earlier threat despite the frequency of such occurrences.

"Ao, I want you to accompany them to where the Sanbi was last located. We wouldn't want our guests getting lost again would we?" She said it with a smirk and Naruto just shrugged.

"It's not our fault we didn't grow up in this mist. How do you guys even navigate in it anyway?" Mei just tapped a conspiratorial finger to her nose.

"We have our ways, although Ao has his own method." She didn't elaborate on that, instead dismissing the group and returning to her paperwork. She could have sworn that it seemed to have grown even more just while she was talking. "WHERE ARE YOU COMING FROM!?" Naruto and Tayuya snickered as they left the office with Ao just looking embarrassed at his Mizukage's behaviour.

"Do you think we should have told her about using clones to do paperwork?" Tayuya just shrugged and carried on walking. Ao caught that though and his eyes lit up, he could tell Mei that and hopefully get back in her good graces. He smiled to himself, a rare sight on the grizzled veteran's features these days and the group left the Mizukage tower in good spirits.

* * *

Whatever spirits the group may have left with were quashed after long enough running blind through the tree tops. All they had to go on was Ao who appeared as a fuzzy silhouette in front of them. They were making good time but none of them liked randomly running through the mist when they couldn't see where they were going. Naruto was just about to clear it away with another wind jutsu when he saw Ao stop and hold up a hand. The three Sand-nin stopped on the same branch and tried to peer through the mist to see why Ao stopped.

The oppressive fog parted just enough for Naruto to catch a glimpse of glimmering blue water beyond the trees they were standing in and he breathed a sigh of relief. Before them was a large beach that spread out in both directions as far as he could see, which admittedly wasn't very far. There were a few large boulders jutting out of the waters close to the shore but after that it seemed to drop dramatically and become deep.

"Okay we're here so uhh, what now?" Both Fuu and Tayuya looked at him incredulously while Ao regarded him curiously.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You don't have any plan at all?" Tayuya smacked Naruto around the back of the head in annoyance. "Ugggh, great, now what the fuck are we supposed to do, how are we even going to find the thing?" Naruto just shook his head quickly.

"Don't worry about it, he's nearby." Ao's look of curiosity grew at the strange declaration as Naruto realised that the three of them weren't alone. He sometimes forgot that some people didn't know about his tenant and now he was receiving suspicious glances from the man. Ao's visible eye narrowed for a fraction of a second before his features relaxed and he nodded.

"Very well, I have escorted you as ordered, when you require a guide back to Kirigakure use that same jutsu as before, either me or another shinobi will come to bring you back." Naruto nodded his thanks, wondering about the sudden change in the man's attitude but not questioning it. They watched Ao disappear back into the swirls of mist, masking his presence instantly to all except Naruto who listened to him leave for as long as he could.

Naruto sent another glance behind him at the sprawling ocean and grinned, quickly closing the distance between their position and the shoreline. He was quickly followed by Fuu and Tayuya who looked around, awed at the massive beach that appeared to take up the entire coastline but for all they knew could only be a few hundred meters long.

"_Well Kurama?" _He felt the impatient nod from his head as Kyuubi returned to branching out with what senses she could muster from within Naruto's body.

"_**Yes, Isobu is close, I can feel him. He's deep below the waters although I'm not sure how you plan on bringing him out. He's naturally reclusive, loves peace and quiet and if he had his way would gladly just sit out the remainder of his life at the bottom of the ocean." **_Naruto cringed, much too docile for his tastes, how could you live your life without excitement or adventure? It would feel far too empty.

"_What about just flaring your chakra or Chomei's. Wouldn't that bring him out to investigate?" _He felt Kyuubi shake her head slowly.

"_**No, Isobu hates us almost as much as Shukaku. He never liked that he was pigeon-holed as one of the 'tailed beasts' purely because we are a form of kin. It made humans far too interested in him, disrupting his peace and resulting in him getting sealed." **_Naruto nodded, he could at least understand that, somewhat. He looked out over the ocean, his mind already whirring with ways to draw out the reclusive biju as he gazed at the sunset. The light from the fading sun filtered through the mist creating beautiful hues of orange or red and tinged the sky a light pink.

"Okay, there's nothing we can do today, we should head further into the forest and set up camp." Tayuya looked displeased; she had hoped their business would be quick so she could return to somewhere warm and dry. Her hair was already becoming a nightmare, she was just glad that the Land of Water wasn't too humid or it would be uncontrollable. She definitely wasn't looking forward to sleeping in the mist, everything would get soaked through the night.

"Fine, let's just get to sleep so we can get this over with tomorrow and get out of this fucking mist." Naruto nodded his head in agreement while Fuu seemed rather distracted. Usually at moments like these Naruto just figured she was talking to Chomei, they seemed to do that a lot nowadays. He often wondered what they talked about and wondered if he looked the same when he was speaking with Kyuubi.

"_**No kit, you look a lot more idiotic." **_He just growled in annoyance and followed Tayuya into the forest so they could set up camp and get some sleep. Hopefully by the morning the mist would have cleared so they could at least see themselves do nothing all day in an attempt to get the Sanbi to surface. A few minutes later they were all getting into their sleeping bags with Tayuya forcefully getting into Naruto's. He smiled, missing these times when they were out on the road just snuggling up to one another; it gave him nice thoughts as he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Fuu was the first to wake up; no matter how long she spent with Naruto she still could never get more than a few hours sleep. It never really affected her so she never really questioned it but it did mean a lot of fumbling around in the dark early in the mornings. _'Why can't I have night vision like Oniisan? It's not fair.' _Then again, she could fly; in her opinion that was a much better trade off; Naruto had often expressed his jealously over that particular ability of hers.

She idly noticed that the mist had cleared up giving them much better visibility in all directions. She also noticed that at some point in the night she had managed to work her way across to Naruto where he had instinctively wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. It was an old habit from time spent on the road that it seemed her body never quite got rid of. She simply felt safe wrapped up in Naruto's arms and in a way she envied Tayuya for getting his warmth at night.

She stood up and stretched off all her muscles, including her wings after letting them unfurl from her back. She thought about taking a quick flight like she liked to do in the morning when travelling but thought against it considering she didn't know who might see her. Naruto had never actually come out and discouraged her from flying but she could tell it caused them a lot of hassle when a villager noticed her soar overhead.

Instead she chose a random direction and started waking, intending on investigating the area a bit, mostly out of boredom. She wouldn't get lost, finding Naruto to her was like finding her own hand; it was easy for most jinchuuriki to find others but for Naruto and Fuu it had become practically instinctual. As long as they weren't separated too much then they could always find one another, it was just another benefit that their tenants gave them.

She wandered through the forest, lightly trailing her hands against trees she passed as she took in the smells of the forest with a smile. Fuu loved nature, there was no one particular thing she like especially, just the whole concept of living free without restrictions or obligations appealed to the part of her that enjoyed flight so much. Subconsciously she twitched her wings as she inhaled deeply, just enjoying having the chance to be out here.

Without the mist smothering everything in sight the forest was actually quite beautiful, sparkling with early morning dew. Multiple varieties of flowers dotted the grass and she followed them as they began to grow more densely. They led her into a clearing where she saw a strange sight, from the trees she could spot a young boy of about her age sitting in the middle of the clearing, leaning against a tree and smiling down at something in his hands. Fuu couldn't make out what it was but it glittered slightly in the early morning sunlight.

She pulled her wings back in and walked out into the clearing, immediately catching the attention of the boy. He had long light brown hair that fell down his back and wore a blue tunic over a green shirt and navy pants. She wondered what he was doing out here and wondered if there was a village nearby that they could get supplies from. The boy seemed more fascinated by the headband tied around Fuu's arm.

"Who are you?" Fuu just smiled sweetly, earning her a small blush from the boy; something she had noticed happened a lot around boys her age.

"I'm Fuu." The boy smiled weakly, managing to look her in the face as he spoke.

"I'm Yukimaru." Fuu's smile brightened as she skipped over, sitting down next to the boy and trying to get a look at the object in his hands.

"What's in your hands?" Yukimaru made a better attempt at hiding it but Fuu managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like pink glass before his hands covered it.

"Why do you want to know?" Fuu just shrugged innocently, looking around the clearing and the multitude of flowers it contained.

"I don't know; I'm just curious." Yukimaru seemed to examine her closely, but not so much with suspicion as plain intrigue.

"What are you doing out here, there aren't any villages around here." Fuu looked back at him, still smiling lightly.

"I could ask you the same thing." Yukimaru gulped even though there was no malice in Fuu's voice, it made her wonder why he was so nervous. She wondered if it had to do with her; she had noticed boys seemed to change when speaking to her, like Chojuro.

"I like to take walks in the mornings; I'm travelling with people that scare me a little bit." Fuu cocked her head slightly to the side, thinking about what he said.

"Then why do you travel with them?" Yukimaru took another subtle glance at the object in his hands.

"They aren't all bad, Guren is really nice to me and Gozu is nice to her so he can't be that bad. The others are kind of mean though, but they don't do anything or Guren gets mad." Fuu nodded, she understood about having a person in your life that was special and you would go anywhere with, even if it meant going with people you didn't like.

"So is this Guren special to you?" Yukimaru smiled softly, looking up at the sky where the stars still twinkled in the early morning light before the sun overpowered them.

"Yeah, I didn't have many people after my parents died, but when I found Guren she was nice to me." He looked around, almost furtively as he scanned the clearing before finally relinquishing his hold on the object in his hands, opening them up so Fuu could see. "She gave me this." Fuu looked down and saw a white camellia flower encased in what looked like a light pink glass, or maybe some kind of crystal. It looked beautiful and perfectly cut.

"Wow, it's really pretty." Yukimaru closed his hands protectively over the flower and Fuu raised her own in a placating gesture.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to take it or anything. It's obviously really precious to you." He nodded with another sad smile before looking back at her, or specifically her headband.

"So are you a shinobi? I don't recognise your headband." She smiled proudly at him, moving her arm so he could see it better.

"That was my gift from my precious person, my Oniisan, except he isn't really my brother but he acts like it. He's the first person who ever showed me kindness in my life." Yukimaru nodded along with her, understanding what that felt like more than most.

"But why does it say seven? Aren't they supposed to have the symbol for your village?" Fuu thought about it, subconsciously looking back in the direction of the camp.

"My Oniisan has the same thing but his says nine, he says that our loyalties shouldn't be to a village. They can be destroyed, moved, or rebuilt. He likes to think that his loyalties or to his friends and the people he loves; or at least that's what he told me." Yukimaru smiled, he liked the sound of this person's brother; he sounded a lot like Guren, although she was loyal to Orochimaru.

"But why seven? Or nine?" Fuu just smiled devilishly, eliciting a second blush from the young boy.

"That's a secret." Yukimaru wanted to ask more but he found he was a little shy around this strange girl. "So what about you, why are you out here..." She motioned with her hands to the clearing in general "...so far away from any village?" Yukimaru's head dropped down and he stared at the flower-ridden floor.

"I'm not supposed to say." Fuu just opened her mouth lamely before closing it again.

"Oh." They sat in silence for a while, neither sure how to continue the conversation before their answer was given for them.

"Fuu!" Her head whipped up and looked in the direction that the voice had come from, it was Naruto, she knew that much. Yukimaru seemed a little shocked by the new voice and looked like he wanted to leave so Fuu put a hand on his shoulder which earned a third blush from the young boy as he stared at the caramel hand.

"Don't worry, that's my Oniisan. He's probably just worried about me." Yukimaru smiled a little bit, reaffirming his idea that her brother seemed like a nice person if he would worry over her. Naruto chose that moment to walk into the clearing, already knowing where Fuu was thanks to their connection.

"There you are Fuu, what have I told you about running off?" Fuu just looked down and sighed exasperatedly.

"To come back before you wake up." He nodded with a small frown, he didn't mind her having walks in the morning but he didn't like waking up and not seeing her there. He noticed the boy sitting next to Fuu and saw her hand on his shoulder; he immediately became suspicious of the situation.

"Fuu, who's this?" He kept the hostility out of his voice until he was sure about the situation, not wanting to frighten the boy if he was innocent. Fuu just smiled up at him, patting Yukimaru on the shoulder.

"This is Yukimaru; I met him out on my walk." Naruto smiled softly, it was just Fuu being her usual self, trying to make friends with as many people as possible; he guessed she took after him in that regard. His smile grew warmer as he walked over, noticing that Yukimaru seemed to grow uncomfortable the closer he got, it reminded him of the first time he met Fuu.

"Hi Yukimaru, I'm Naruto." He held out a hand while crouching down and the boy tentatively took it, shaking hands lightly. "I hope Fuu wasn't too much trouble for you." Said girl pouted lightly from the insinuation while Yukimaru just blushed again.

"N-No, she was actually really nice." Naruto's warm smile returned as he looked between them, his eyes narrowing mischievously. He may have once been naive to romance and attraction but Tayuya had changed all that, he wondered what was really going on here.

"Well good." Fuu seemed to catch the slight insinuation in Naruto's voice and the ever so slightly joking way he talked and scowled. She wanted to tell him it wasn't like that; that she and Yukimaru were just friends but she didn't want to upset the boy's feelings. Tayuya had once told her that boys were mostly clueless about romance and would always deny any feelings they had; she forgot to mention that girls could be the exact same way. None of them got any time to ponder on Naruto's words as a fourth figure darted into the clearing, looking over the scene with a trained eye.

"Yukimaru, what are you doing out here?" Naruto turned to eye the newcomer, seeing a tall woman with spiky blue hair pulled into a pineapple-like bun with two long, thin bangs framing her face. She wore a fur-lined green kimono with a thick yellow rope tied into a downwards knot at the back. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the two figures that she didn't recognise, both wearing strange headbands that just had numbers on. Something about the blonde one struck her but she couldn't quite place what it was.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Guren's eyes opened wide at the statement, this was the boy Kabuto was telling her about, except he wasn't really a boy, more a young man. In fact if he wasn't the enemy Guren might have been attracted to him, he was remarkably handsome in a wild kind of way.

"Guren." Naruto nodded politely with a smile.

"Sorry if I kept your friend, my sister seems to have taken a liking to him." Both Yukimaru and Fuu blushed, the latter scowling at Naruto while he just enjoyed seeing her irritated face. Guren on the other hand looked at Yukimaru curiously, she had never seen him make a friend before; a part of her was sort of happy while another worried about what effect this could have on the mission.

"It's no problem." Naruto just nodded politely again while Guren motioned with her hand for Yukimaru to follow her. He got up and walked out of her in the opposite direction of Naruto's camp but stopped at the edge of the clearing. He returned around and waved back timidly at the two of them.

"Bye Fuu, Naruto. It was good meeting you two." The two waved back but Yukimaru was already gone, vanishing into the trees. Naruto waited a few moments before turning to Fuu with a large smirk plastered over his face.

"So what was all that about?" Fuu just scowled at him in annoyance.

"Shut up." With that she marched off back in the direction of the camp with a chuckling Naruto not far behind.


	45. Chapter 45

Naruto hadn't stopped teasing Fuu all the way back to their camp, to the point where she had begun throwing rocks at him to shut him up. She wasn't really putting any effort in so Naruto dodged them all easily, continuing to taunt her good-naturedly. Both sweat-dropped when they reached the camp and found Tayuya still fast asleep, blissfully drooling on Naruto's pillow. Fuu just looked at her then back at Naruto who had started packing up their gear into the bags.

"Shouldn't we wake Tayuya up?" Naruto just stared at her incredulously before a smile made its way onto his face.

"Uhh yeah sure, why don't you do that while I finish up with the packing?" Fuu looked between them again, trying to find the catch and the reason Naruto was acting so strange. She walked over and gently nudged Tayuya's shoulder which only got her a groan as the redhead snuggling further into the warm sleeping bag. Fuu pushed a little harder, trying to roll Tayuya onto her back only for one of the girl's arms to snake out and wrap itself around Fuu's neck, pulling her down onto the ground with Tayuya.

"Mmmmhhhmm, feeling frisky this morning Naruto?" Fuu's eyes shot open wide as she struggled against Tayuya's iron-like arm only to be pulled in tighter against the girl's chest, slowly being smothered by her reasonably endowed assets. Naruto stifled his laugh from where he was on the other side of the camp, focusing on dousing the fire.

"Mmmhhmm yes Naruto, just like that." Fuu struggled even harder against Tayuya's chest but it only seemed to turn the girl on more, making her move back and forth a little inside the sleeping bag. Fuu finally broke away from Tayuya's hold, blushing brighter than a tomato before she took a few steps back.

"I'm uhh, gonna go, uhh scout out the area." She took off into the trees, finally letting Naruto fall onto the ground, laughing furiously. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tayuya stir and sit up, a large smirk on her face as she looked to where Fuu had taken off. She looked back around to where Naruto was still laughing, her smirk widening.

"That'll teach her to wake me up this early." Naruto breathed deeply to calm himself before getting up and walking over to his girlfriend. "So what's the plan?" Naruto just scratched the back of his head as he looked thoughtfully towards the ocean.

"Dunno, thought I'd just wing it?" Tayuya sighed before crawling out of the sleeping back, wearing nothing but her underwear making Naruto wonder just when she had disrobed.

"So the usual then?" Naruto pouted slightly making Tayuya chuckle before he shrugged nonchalantly.

* * *

They were all walking across the surface of the water, thankful that the mist had cleared away so they could see better. Fuu was doing her best not to look at Tayuya while said redhead kept having to suppress giggles every time she caught Fuu shy away from her. She was about to go over and tell her it was just a joke when Naruto put a hand up, telling them to stop. Tayuya looked around, not noticing anything significant about this particular stretch of water while both Naruto and Fuu had that far-off look that told her they were communicating with their Biju.

"Okay, Kyuubi say that Isobu is somewhere below us." He looked to Fuu for confirmation and she nodded in the affirmative. "Okay, I say we drive the Sanbi off, make it run away from here so that Orochimaru can't find it." He looked to his two companions as they thought over the plan before both nodded again, neither of them had any ideas anyway. Naruto took a breath before he formed a familiar hand sign and about thirty clones appeared around them.

"I would stand back if I were you guys." Fuu and Tayuya quickly back peddled from the group of Narutos while Tayuya began to have thoughts about how she could use such a jutsu in the bedroom. The clones all arranged themselves in a large circle about fifty feet across in diameter while the original joined Fuu and Tayuya to the side. Tayuya naturally took a few more steps back, if Naruto wasn't with his clones it meant that he was about do something dangerous and more than likely stupid.

All the clones gripped their wrists before energy coalesced in each of their hands, all of them forming their own Rasengan about the size of their head. With an unspoken signal between all of them they simultaneously plunged their hands into the waters below them. Instantly the swirling energies contained within their palms caused the waters to swirl violently as each of them began to sink into the whirlpool they had created.

As they sank deeper and deeper into the tumultuous waters their whirlpools grew and grew until they began to overlap. In the centre of their circle the waters began to sway and shift until it too began to rotate round and round. The miniature riptides the Rasengans had created merged into one enormous maelstrom, spinning the clones round and round as they fought to stay upright on the angry water.

The whirlpool became deeper and deeper until finally it looked like Naruto had created a whirlwind that connected to the ocean's floor. Fuu and Tayuya could only watch on in amazement as Naruto practically bent the ocean to his will, opening up a void in the water that they could see straight down to. Right at the bottom, now disturbed from its slumber they saw one great eye crack open and stare up at them angrily. An enormous roar resonated around the nearby area as the Sanbi stared up at the three people who had caused him to wake up. In particular it stared at two individuals, a certain blonde and a certain mint-haired girl.

"**KURAMA! CHOMEI! YOU DARE SHOW YOURSELF TO ME!" **Naruto watched, as bewildered as his companions; he expected some hostility out not outright hatred.

"_**Oh that's right, I forgot about the thing with his eye." **_Naruto's eyes opened wide at the sudden input from Kyuubi and when he looked down at Isobu he could surely see that one of the beast's great eyes was closed from what looked like an injury.

"_You mention this now?" _He felt the great fox shrug from his mindscape and he had half a mind to go in there and kick the crap out of her for causing him this grief. He would have, except for the massive shrimp-like tail that shot up out of the vortex he had created before two more joined it and plunged into the side. The delicate balance was disrupted, causing all the clones to lose their footing and the Rasengans to dissipate. The ocean water around the whirlpool heaved for a moment before all of its pent up energy crashed back in, trying to crush anything inside.

Fuu, Tayuya, and Naruto all had to fight to stop themselves falling into the water as huge waves threaten to cascade over them. Fuu immediately took to the air, rising high above the dangerous tides while Tayuya and Naruto dashed for the shoreline, actually outrunning a wave that was following them. They reached the sandy beach just as the small tidal wave crashed down behind them, managing to thoroughly soak them both. Tayuya just stood there fuming as Naruto looked back over the now calm again waters while Fuu gracefully dropped in from the sky, allowing her wings to fold back into her back.

"Well that fucking worked out great! Got any other bright ideas fucktard?!" Naruto shrugged idly, with his hand up at his chin; he had a few more ideas but after that little display from the Sanbi he figured they would work just as well as his first.

"Nope, Fuu?" The young girl just turned, shocked that he was asking her but shook her head anyway. "Well then we're stuck until whoever Orochimaru sent gets here, they'll probably have a way of getting the Sanbi, probably the child they're going to use as a jinchuuriki. Our priority should be getting that child away from them, after that it's eliminating the Sound ninja so they can't try it again." Tayuya looked highly annoyed but she nodded anyway after a sigh; Fuu seemed more hesitant but after a gentle smile from Naruto she also agreed.

So that was what they did; all of them moved back from the shore and took up a position in the trees overlooking the coast. They spread out to cover more ground and occasionally Naruto would dart between them using his Fujin no Iki to check up and see if they spotted anything. After about three hours of this they were all growing bored, wondering if those rumours about Orochimaru were in fact that; rumours.

Finally Naruto spotted something, a small group of odd-looking people emerged from the tree line, their eyes darting around for enemies. There were seven in total, a strange effeminate man in a full body blue slime suit, a squat man with greyed skin and a strange device strapped to his arm, a taller man with dark grey hair and a gas mask, a bulky man with a narrow face, a younger man with a cocky grin and a scarf wrapped around his neck and finally a tall woman with a smaller child.

He groaned when he recognised Guren and Yukimaru before his eyes turned hard as steel; he should have know he was the jinchuuriki-to-be; why else would he be out here? He couldn't prevent the small growl that escaped his throat, but luckily none of the newcomers heard him. For now he intended to just observe and see how they intended to bring out the Sanbi but not before he sent a message along to Tayuya and Fuu telling them not to interfere for now.

He watched as the odd group walked up to the highest point on the coast, a large cliff that overlooked the calm waters. They seemed to send Yukimaru out in front of them while the others took up protective positions around the boy. Naruto watched in fascinated as Yukimaru looked out over the ocean before taking a comforting glance back at Guren. He turned around and with more confidence he began to scream; it wasn't a normal scream, this one seemed to resonate off of everything in sight.

Blue light began to crawl around the boy before it shot up out of him in a beam, parting the clouds above him. He positively glowed with energy as he continued to scream out to the sea and Naruto suddenly found himself overcome with a wave of utter peace. It was like the boy's cry was resonating deep within him, calming him and putting him completely at ease. He shook his head of it, knowing he needed to be alert for what might come next.

Sure enough as he continued to watch the waters around where he knew the Sanbi dwelled begin to churn and writhe before more of the strange blue light erupted from the surface. It coalesced until it took on the form of a spectral three-tails that looked around curiously, first at its surroundings, then at Yukimaru. It took a hesitant step forward on the surface of the water before Yukimaru collapsed, probably from the strain, and the phantom image dissipated into nothing.

Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away, it was just astounding to watch; it seemed like the boy was the key to the Sanbi, sharing some kind of connection with it. He suddenly realise that it wasn't just the Sanbi, Yukimaru seemed to be intertwined with the biju themselves. During his scream Naruto had felt the urge to simply reveal himself and run to Yukimaru, not knowing why. This was both a dangerous and fascinating revelation, one that he would have to research after he rescued Yukimaru.

He hadn't failed to notice that when Yukimaru collapsed Guren was the first to rush over and catch him before he hit the ground. Naruto's eyes narrowed in suspicion, wondering why a subordinate of Orochimaru would show care for the boy they were about to turn into a weapon. He wasn't sure what to do now, their attempt to bring the Sanbi out had obviously failed; it seemed Yukimaru wasn't strong enough to do whatever it was he could do.

Naruto knew this wasn't the end of it though, Orochimaru wouldn't just give up. He would be back and anyway Naruto wasn't here for the Sanbi, he needed information. He sent a message to Fuu and Tayuya and after a few moments the two of them appeared near him, also looking out over the strange scene with interest.

"So what now? They failed right?" Naruto just nodded, his eyes still fixed on Yukimaru being cradled in Guren's arms.

"Oniisan, why is Yukimaru with those people?" Naruto just sighed and looked around at his little sister, before turning his attention to both of them.

"Like I said, the priority is getting Yukimaru away from them. Keep one of them alive, preferably Guren, she looks like the leader." Tayuya seemed confused that Naruto somehow knew the names of these people but she nodded all the same. The group didn't look all that tough anyway; she figured it would be easy to keep two busy each while Naruto went for the leader. "Tayuya, you take the short one and the one in the gas mask, Fuu you take the blue one and the guy with the scarf, I'll take dumbo and the leader. If you see a chance to get away with Yukimaru don't hesitate but make sure they can't come after us." After receiving the two nods he needed Naruto turned back around.

The group of seven were all clustered around Yukimaru's shivering body, using his power drained him of nearly all his energy and it still wasn't enough to summon the Sanbi. Guren checked over him, making sure he was going to be okay before looking around at her team.

"Rinji, get him a-" She was cut off as a certain blonde appeared in their midst's out of nowhere before grabbing Yukimaru and taking off with him further out into the water. It all happened so fast Guren could barely react before she got her senses and turned her head. In nearly the same instance a green blur appeared, squarely kicking Rinji in the jaw, sending him hurtling into the water, already unconscious from the flight-aided blow. Not too soon after Tayuya appeared with her bo staff in hand, already crackling with lightning and used it to hit Kigiri in the temple, also knocking him out.

Guren's team was given no time to recover as Tayuya immediately engaged Kihou, trying to hit the contraption on his arm that was no doubt the source of his power. Likewise Fuu was already trying to get in a few blows on Nurari, the effeminate man proving difficult to hit as each member was driven off in separate directions. Guren could only watch as her teammates were first taken down, then separated even as Naruto got farther away with Yukimaru.

"Gozu, with me, we need to rescue Yukimaru!" The large man just nodded dumbly before taking off after Naruto across the water. In that time Naruto had managed to create a clone, handing Yukimaru off to him before turning around and holding his ground, or water as it were. It didn't take long for Guren to catch up, her eyes narrowed nearly into slits as she stared at Naruto.

"Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Blade!"

* * *

Thanks to their synchronized attack Tayuya was only left with one opponent, unfortunately he proved to be a slippery bastard. As soon as he recovered from the shock of seeing two of his teammates taken out so easily he began using the device on his arm to fire exploding projectiles out at Tayuya, forcing her back and into the forest. She was forced to use trees as cover, but only until Kihou obliterated them with another launched bomb.

Tayuya learned quickly not so stick around when they exploded, she had accidently inhaled some of the noxious yellow smoke the explosives created and was still feeling light-headed. Right now her vision swam as she bounded through trees, only managing to stay on a branch for less than a second before it was shredded along with the rest of the tree by another bomb. She ducked to the left, just avoiding another which sailed past her head, missing her by inches.

"Don't you ever fucking run out of those!?" Her only reply was another cry.

"Dark smoke spear!" She was forced to bend her body out of the way as the ground beneath where she had been standing erupted into another crater filled with the yellow smoke. She couldn't even see where the squat man was firing from because she was too busy dodging to look.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Instantly she was surrounded by falcons, all hovering in the air, awaiting her command.

"Kamikaze falcons!" The birds took off, speeding through the trees in search of their target hidden amongst the forest. Tayuya waited with bated breath, her vision finally allowed to clear as she awaited another explosion that never came. She continued to wait, her hand on the ground as she crouched, just listening for any sign of movement. She heard an explosion not too far from her position, followed by a few more as Kihou tried to eradicated the birds before they could get close and give him a taste of his own medicine.

Tayuya sprang to her feet, moving off through the trees as silently as possible in the direction of the explosion, a smirk on her face as she readied her staff. When she came across the clearing where Kihou was rapidly firing into the mass of birds trying to blow him up she waited until his back was turned before jumping down with her staff raised. As she fell a large arc of lightning danced across the metal of her staff giving her a tickling sensation as it ran through her body.

"Bass drop!" Her staff struck the ground creating a shockwave that literally ripped the air molecules around her. The ground cracked and warped as lightning crashed through the earth in the direction of Kihou who could only look around in shock before the ground beneath him caved in. He suddenly found himself encased up to the waist in earth, unable to free himself, and that gave the falcons swarming around him enough time to hone in on their target. They screamed down on him, their wings set ablaze as they did so before they all impacted with the ground sending up miniature mushroom clouds from their attack.

Tayuya watched calmly from the edge of the clearing, waiting for any sign of movement from inside the cloud of dust and debris. When she saw none she smirked victoriously already turning around to leave.

"Not so fucking tough." She regretted those words as she heard another cry.

"Smoke dragon!" She pivoted on one foot, just able to get away as a massive dragon comprised entirely of a thick white smoke charged at her, impacting into the ground where she had been. It crashed in, returning to smoke but as soon as Tayuya took a relieved breath it simply reformed itself, charging her again. This time she wasn't fast enough to dodge and could only bring her staff up in defence.

She spun the metal rod until it was just a circular blur of light in front of her, acting as a shield that would block most attacks. Unfortunately the dragon passed right through her shield, only getting slightly warped as it moved through the blue circle. Tayuya suddenly found her head encased in smoke, unable to breathe in case it was poisonous and when she moved it just followed her. Her vision was obscured and her eyes were already starting to water, it was times like these she really wished she had a wind affinity like Naruto; he could simply blow this thing away.

She couldn't speak to call out a jutsu and as the seconds passed it looked more and more hopeless, she needed wind or something to draw away the smoke before she suffocated. Her staff was still out in front of her, spinning madly, forgotten as Tayuya tried to come up with a plan. It struck her in an instant and although it was incredibly risky she had to try anything now. Remembering what Naruto had told her about his swift release she began to draw in the lightning chakra from her body, rubbing it together until there was friction.

She used this spark to send her muscles into overdrive, exciting them and allowing them to move quicker that they should have been able. The staff in her hands became even faster, moving around so quickly it might as well have been a solid circle, blurring with lightning chakra. The smoke dragon around her began to warp, pulled into by the vacuum temporarily created by the spinning pole. It continued to get sucked in and slowly there was less and less smoke around Tayuya's head until she could finally suck in a beautiful lungful of air.

Kihou just looked at her, shocked that she had been able to escape as he tried to control the dragon that was being siphoned away by Tayuya's staff. She panted, looking across at Kihou angrily and using the last of the electricity in her muscles she dashed across the field in the blink of an eye, smashing the squat man in the face so hard it broke his goggles. The smoke dragon finally dissipated and Tayuya finally allowed her staff to stop spinning, feeling her arms burn from the reckless use of an improvised swift release.

She nearly fell to her knees but she forced herself back into a standing position before looking in the direction of the sea where she could see the waters begin to churn dangerously. She took off as fast as she could, already sending healing medical chakra throughout her body to fix the damage she had done to her muscles.

"What the hell are you doing now Shithead?"

* * *

Fuu was having to weave through the air to prevent the strange semi-liquid projectiles her opponent kept slinging at her from all of his limbs. He proved to be as hard to hit as he was to dodge, able to bend his body in impossible ways to dodge any blow she might send his way. She had allowed the strange substance to get on her foot once only for it to immediately drag her down, making it even more difficult to fly. She knew if she got any on her wings then she would be done for, going hand to hand with this guy would be a mistake.

She took a deep breath in before swivelling in the air and exhaling her golden particles, the immediately caught the light, refracting it and intensifying the reflective light to blinding proportions. Nurari just did something strange with his slime suit, the light getting bent around it until he was protected from the blinding rays and made invisible to Fuu at the same time. She lost sight of him as he disappeared further into the forest, drawing her in.

She had to dodge suddenly, using a nearby tree to kick off of as another globule of slime tried to hit her in the face which would have surely suffocated her if she allowed it to hit home. She still couldn't see her opponent as they used that strange light-bending technique to mask themselves. Now she found herself dodging slime when she didn't know where it was coming from. She would hide behind a tree only to see some flying at her from the front.

She was amazed at how quickly Nurari could change his position but this wasn't really the time to be congratulating her opponent. If she couldn't see him then she would have to find him another way; she only wished she had a lightning affinity like her brother, the slime seemed to be water based and she could just shock him. No, she had a wind affinity which she saw very little use for in this situation, even with all of Naruto's training.

She took to the skies again, trying to gain some height so that she could get a better fix on her opponent. She tracked a few of the sticky projectiles as they were launched at her, dodging them with ease before noting more coming from another, seemingly random direction. Unfortunately she forgot the main rule of gravity, what goes up must come down. She felt the sticky slime impact with her wings, locking them up as they were forcefully stuck to her back.

Her eyes opened wide as she was forced into a plummet, unable to steer herself or recover as she plummeted towards the ground. She managed to shoot a hand out and grab onto a passing branch, feeling her arm wrench in the socket as she nearly dislocated her shoulder. She groaned and pulled herself up before flopping back down onto the branch, careful not to lay her back against anything in case she got stuck.

She rubbed her shoulder tenderly, waiting for Chomei to do her thing and fix it up while she scouted out the area with her eyes. All of a sudden she caught the slight warping of the air on a tree branch not far from her and flung her body out of the way before a globule of slime could ensnare her completely. As she jumped she threw a few kunai the direction she had seen Nurari last, only for him to reappear and catch all the kunai on his arm, the slime acting like a buffer to stop him getting hurt.

"Wind Style: Wind Shuriken!" She threw out her hand even as she was falling, sending out five or six shuriken comprised entirely of rotating wind. They shot through the air at her target, ripping through the slime he had put up to defend himself and actually managing to draw blood for once. She heard him cry out in pain in an all too girlish scream before she latched onto another tree trunk, using it to launch herself back onto the branch she had been on before. She reached Nurari just as he was crouched over, clutching the cut on his arm in pain.

"Wind Style: Grand Wind Shuriken!" She launched the larger-than-normal shuriken at Nurari, satisfied as it tore through his torso, neatly bisecting him in two. She felt slightly ill at the slight but was forced to overcome it when she saw the clone simply dissolve into a pile of slime. Again she had to dodge out of the way of another globule of the slime, really starting to get pissed by this slippery asshole.

She turned, located the warping of light and forced wind chakra through her Tenketsu, blasting off the branch like a small rocket so that her fist could impact with the only part of Nurari that wasn't covered by the slime suit, his face. He keeled over in pain, clutching his broken nose as Fuu waited to see if this one would just dissolve into a clone as well.

"My nose, you broke my nose!" The effeminate man just looked up at her in pain as she kicked him in the face, knocking him out cold. The slime on his suit meant he adhered to the branch so she didn't have to worry about him falling off. She looked around, seeing the sea where the waters had begun to pick up, churning dangerously in what looked like a miniature maelstrom.

"Oh no, Oniisan!"

* * *

Naruto ducked under another swing of Guren's crystal blade, blocking it with a kunai strengthened with wind chakra as it came around again. This went back and forth for a while, neither really gaining the upper hand until Naruto finally noticed an opening in Guren's defence. He lashed out with a leg, intending to hit her in the side and wind her until his clone could safely escape with Yukimaru. To his surprise when his leg connected it felt like he was striking a solid wall, jarring his body and giving the woman enough to lash out at him, managing to draw her blade along his chest.

Naruto back flipped away on the water, putting distance between himself and the crystal user. He looked at her and tried to find out why his kick had failed, he just managed to see the glint of light reflect off her crystal armour before he was forced to duck again as an enlarged arm tried to strike him. He turned his attention to his second opponent, the brute of a man who was able to change any part of his body into mud at any given time.

Luckily for Naruto all earth techniques were weak against lightning, and they just happened to be standing on a large body of water. He reached into his cloak before either of his opponents could stop him, drawing out a scroll before unsealing its contents. The two Raito falling out and in to his hands; he could feel them almost buzz with excitement at the opportunity to be used again after so long. He obliged them, holding them up in the air as the already dark clouds above them thickened, arcs of electricity already passing through them.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Ball!" A single beam of lightning sot down from the heavens, striking the upraised blades as they crackled with raw power. Instead of being grounded through Naruto's body he forced his chakra into the blades, using them to capture the electricity, focusing it into a ball between them. As soon as he thought it was big enough he plunged the two swords down, releasing all the stored energy as they discharged the ball through the water below him.

It spread out in milliseconds, arcing up Gozu's body until Naruto could see his skeleton although he knew it wouldn't be enough to kill him, he only wanted to incapacitate. Guren on the other hand seemed relatively unaffected, the translucent armour encasing her body chipped and cracked a bit but she was otherwise unperturbed. He raised Kiba towards her, pointing the ever so slightly vibrating blade towards her.

"Give up; I won't let you turn Yukimaru into a jinchuuriki!" Guren just snarled at him, enlarging the blade across her arm as she charged at Naruto who simply raised oneof the Kiba up to block the strike. Guren had expected her blade to simply cut right through the strange tantos but instead when she tried to cut them her arm-blade was bisected, without Naruto even having to apply force. There was a reason they were known as the sharpest blades in the elemental nations.

* * *

Yukimaru struggled in the clone's arms as it continued to run away from the growing battle, dashing across the water.

"No stop! Guren! What about Guren!" The clone tried to ignore the boy's pleas as much as possible, knowing that if he let him go with those people he would be subjected to a life of misery as a jinchuuriki. They both heard the thunder in the air before both turned to see the single bolt of lightning come down and strike the area where Guren and Naruto had been fighting. Yukimaru's eyes opened wide, fearing the worst for the woman who had shown him kindness after so long.

"NO! GUUUUURRREEEEEEN!" The clone found that the boy's struggles increased as blue fire erupted all around him, encasing him and nearly burning the clone. The energy shot straight up into the air, parting the clouds in a swirl as Yukimaru cried out.

* * *

Naruto was finally on the offensive, swinging the Kiba where he could, occasionally grazing Guren's armour. Whenever Gozu recovered he would simply shock the water again, putting him right back down. He wasn't very skilled with the two swords but he didn't really need to be, he just needed to get one lucky hit in. All three combatants felt it as the waters below them began to churn dangerously, putting them all off balance as they tried to adjust to the eddies.

Suddenly the water burst apart, revealing the carapace of the one creature nobody wanted to see right now. The Sanbi burst into the air, summoned by the wailing boy's scream as it looked around it's new environment. It saw the blonde from earlier fighting it out below him as its one good eye narrowed dangerously. Guren and Naruto could only look up as the massive beast came hurtling back down on them, mouth open. Both fighters felt similar thoughts pass through their minds as they saw the terrifying sight approach.

'_Shit!'_


	46. Chapter 46

Fuu and Tayuya both reached the scene just as the Sanbi crashed back down into the waters, taking Guren and Naruto with it. They rushed toward where the waters still churned but it looked like the three-tails was done for now, not bothering to resurface. Tayuya managed to spot the single Naruto clone holding onto a struggling Yukimaru, the flaming blue light just fading as the Sanbi retreated below the ocean's surface.

She rushed over and arrived just in time to see the single clone burst out of existence; she caught Yukimaru in her arms before he could drop into the water and looked around. The ocean had calmed again, leaving no sign that an enormous turtle-like creature had been there at all. She spotted Gozu still struggling with the remaining lightning coursing through his system but Guren and Naruto were nowhere in sight.

Tayuya felt a tug at her heart and a small tear threatened to break from her eyes but she sniffed it back. Naruto had given them a mission and she had to protect the now passed-out boy in her arms. She knew he would be alright, it was Naruto after all, he was always alright. Unfortunately those thoughts didn't keep her eyes from watering. She turned, seeing Fuu looking almost as lost as she did; she needed to be strong right now.

"Come on Fuu, we need to round up those guys and make sure they can't escape while we wait for Naruto." Fuu just stared at her, unsure of what to say. Tayuya knelt down on the waters, bringing her eyes to Fuu's level. "Come on Fuu, Naruto would want you to be strong right now. He's going to be fine, believe it." Fuu smiled weakly at the redhead's words as they turned their attention back to their former opponent, their main concern being the slowly recovering Gozu.

* * *

Naruto awoke to the slow drip of water against his forehead; for a second he thought that his mindscape had somehow reverted back to a sewer and he was there. He thought against it, he couldn't feel that familiar tug that showed him the direction of the Kyuubi. He cracked open an eye and looked around his new environment, shocked when he appeared to be in the heart of some elaborate and strange cave system. Wearily he got to his feet and looked around some more but in every direction it just seemed to be the same strange rock formation with tunnels branching off in a few directions.

"_Hey Kurama, where the hell are we?" _He waited a few seconds as he could feel Kyuubi's discomfort over the question.

"_**I don't think you'll like my answer Kit." **_Naruto frowned at the answer, trying to think back to what he could remember before he got here. He was fighting Guren and Gozu, trying to penetrate her crystal armour when the waters started getting choppy. Then the three-tails appeared out of nowhere before rocketing own on them with its mouth open...

"Awww that's sick! It freaking ate me?!" Naruto shuddered at the prospect of being eaten by a tailed beast before looking around again. It certainly didn't look like what he imagined a stomach to look like, and he had been in one before thanks to that damn snake summon. He had to admit this was a marked improvement on red slimy walls though; he walked over and patted one of the walls.

"Huh, rock hard. It gives a whole new meaning to an iron gut." He saw a few puddles around the floor and thought it best to probably avoid those if possible, probably some kind of acid that would dissolve him alive. Again the idea made him shudder while really wishing he was out of here now.

"_Hey Kurama, you know a way out of here?" _The ancient fox seemed to stare at him incredulously from inside his own mind.

"_**And what makes you think I've been here before?" **_Naruto just chuckled sheepishly before moving along the strange cave-like place, looking for an exit. He would prefer not to have to leave the natural way if that was at all possible. He wandered aimlessly for a while, taking any random turn he could; he knew Yukimaru was at least with Tayuya thanks to his clone's last memories and it was also Yukimaru who had summoned Isobu. It would appear that his ability was closely linked with his emotions which could prove dangerous in the future. Moreso if he actually was made into a jinchuuriki.

He seemed to have a strong emotional tie to Guren, if he found out she was dead then he might do something drastic. Of course Naruto didn't know if Guren was dead or not but his clone hadn't seen her after the three-tails had eaten him so he assumed she was somewhere in here with him. He pondered the question as he walked, wondering why Yukimaru would care so much for a subordinate of Orochimaru. Was it an act? A ruse to get him to trust them? Naruto wouldn't put it past the snake but what he had seen when Yukimaru collapsed was genuine concern, it confused him greatly.

He turned into a large cavern-like area of the Sanbi, again wondering how this place was so expansive when the actual creature wasn't nearly this big. He took a moment and stopped, trying to think if he had been here before except all the passages and room-like structures just looked the same, he could be walking in circles for all he knew. Surprisingly he spotted movement and Guren walked out of a different passage, right into the room he was in.

"You!" She pointed a warning finger at him before keeling over, clutching her side in pain. She collapsed to the floor, apparently unconscious and Naruto rushed over. She might have been an enemy but he had seen some redeemable traits from her and wouldn't let her die like this. He looked around again. _'Hell nobody deserves to die in a place like this, except maybe Orochimaru.' _When he reached her he checked her side; the once white flower pattern on her kimono was now stained red with her own blood.

He examined the wound, seeing that the problem was a shard of her own crystal armour had shattered and left a large gash across her side. He cursed to himself, Tayuya was the one with medical ninjutsu, he knew nothing of it, just the basic first aid taught at the academy. He pulled out a medical kit he always kept in a seal on his thigh and started wiping the wound clean with antiseptic. Even in her unconscious state Guren still winced from the painful substance rubbing against her open wound.

He cleaned her up and bandaged the gash as best he could. Knowing nothing of how a normal body heals due to his own rapid healing factor he could only guess at how fast the woman could recover. Perhaps in a few days or maybe a week, probably sooner if she received proper medical attention, not his slash-dab job at it. She seemed to be really out of it but he had bandaged her wound to the best of his ability so there was nothing more he could do.

He waited around for a little while but quickly grew bored with that, he still needed to find a way out of here but at the same time he couldn't leave Guren alone in this condition. He still didn't know how the Sanbi digested its food and he really didn't want to find out. He picked up Guren as gently as he could, carrying her bridal style so he didn't upset her wound even more. He began to wander again, looking for any sign of a way out except he could find nothing.

It was frustrating; no matter where he went it was exactly the same, there were no discernible features that told him he was heading in the right direction, or even the wrong direction. It even smelled the same everywhere he went and all he could hear was the occasional drip of water and some weird clattering that had been there since he woke up here. He didn't pay it much mind; it was all around him and didn't help him escape so he just continued to wander aimlessly.

After a while he felt Guren shift in his arms and groan as she woke up, blinking in the weak light that somehow bathed the area. She first looked around through blurry eyes, noting she was still in the Sanbi's stomach before noticing that she was bobbing slightly. She looked up only to see the face of the blonde shinobi that had taken Yukimaru from her. Her eyes opened wide before narrowing into slits, a snarl replacing her peaceful smile.

"You! What are you doing?! Put me down!" She struggled in Naruto's grasp but the more she struggled the more she felt her injury give her pain. Naruto eventually walked over to where a rock-like structure jutted up from the ground and placed the struggling kunoichi on it. He moved back from her, looking her over impassively; she looked different to most of Orochimaru's lackeys, a lot like Anko in fact. For a brief moment that gave him a glimmer of hope that she too could break away from him but he quashed it before he gained false hope.

"You! You..." She trailed off with a frown, touching a hand to her wound and noticing the bandages wrapped around her torso. "You wrapped my wound. Why?" Her voice held a lot of hostility and suspicion out Naruto ignored it as best he could.

"I don't leave people to die when they can't defend themselves, not when they've done nothing to me. I'm not like Orochimaru!" Guren just stared back at him defiantly, desperately trying to ignore the pain in her side.

"Don't talk about Orochimaru-sama that way!" Naruto stared right back, anger encroaching into his eyes.

"Why not?! All he has ever done is brought pain and misery. He tried to hurt Tayuya! He killed the old man! He tried to hurt Tsunade! Why do you even serve him?!" Guren kept up her defiant glare although the pain was really starting to get to her, making her light-headed and dizzy.

"You wouldn't understand! Lord Orochimaru saved me from a village that despised me because of what I could do. What would you now about that!" Naruto's anger left him all at once and when he looked at Guren staring defiantly back at him he only saw himself, he saw a young Gaara shunned by his village, a young Fuu looking up to him because he had saved her from a life of loneliness and fear. He didn't know quite what to say to her; she was a reflection of himself, or what he might have been.

"I understand." His voice was quiet, a whisper. "I understand better than you know." Guren only got angrier.

"No you don't, _nobody_ understands! Kabuto told me about you, you're from the Sand aren't you? They already have two jinchuuriki, who are you to judge Lord Orochimaru for wanting the same thing? You just want Yukimaru for yourself so the Sand can use him as a weapon!" Naruto felt a little bit of the anger return to him as he stared down at her.

"I don't understand? You don't understand! Yeah the Sand has jinchuuriki and you're looking at one of them! I understand what it's like to be hated by people because of something you had no control over, something that makes them fear and despise you because they don't understand it even though they wanted you to be that way. That's why I went to Suna, to get away from all that, so I didn't have to live with those people who hated me. You think I want to put Yukimaru through all that? Then you're as delusional as your asshole of a leader!" Guren faltered slightly in her gaze.

"Y-You're a jinchuuriki?" Naruto nodded grimly.

"Yup, you're looking at the container for the nine-tailed fox." Guren just stared at him some more, his headband now made a lot more sense, as did the little girl's.

"And that girl?" He nodded again, his eyes downcast.

"Yeah, Fuu is as well. I saved her from her village, they hated her and treated her like trash so I rescued her, brought her with me so she wouldn't have to grow up alone, with nobody to care about her. It also meant she wouldn't fall into the hands of people like Orochimaru!" Guren flinched slightly at the anger in his voice; she could tell he cared a lot for the girl, much like she cared for Yukimaru.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Naruto looked down at his feet, remembering Anko and the passion with which she despised Orochimaru.

"Because I believe there is still good in you, good that's wasted on a scumbag like Orochimaru. He might have saved you from your village but I bet after that he forced you into all kinds of situations you hated, situations that forced you to ignore your humanity to blindly follow him. If you're worried about him hurting you then don't worry because when I get rid of the Akatsuki and make sure that those closest to me are safe, he's next." Guren stared at him for a moment before she broke out in laughter, forcing her to clamp a hand over her injury as it burned from the exertion.

"You really think you can defeat Lord Orochimaru, and you call me delusional? I could die laughing..." She grimaced as the pain reared up again "...literally." Naruto just scowled, he might not be ready to face Orochimaru yet but once he dealt with Akatsuki he would have the experience he needed to finally end the snake.

"You'd be surprised by what I can do." Guren stopped laughing, narrowing her eyes at the comment. Kabuto had once told her this kid was dangerous, she couldn't really see it herself. Sure he had a few powerful lightning techniques but that wasn't really much, then again they had only fought for a few minutes, he was unlikely to have revealed everything in that time, she certainly didn't.

"Then if you aren't after Yukimaru, why are you here?" Naruto looked around; he thought that the clattering he had heard was getting louder but he might have been imagining things.

"I need information, Orochimaru put a curse seal on Tayuya. I need to find Sasuke Uchiha and take a look at his mark so that I can get rid of the one on her." Guren continued to just stare at him incredulously.

"First Orochimaru and now the Uchiha, are you crazy? I've seen what that kid can do, you're outclassed. There's no point in trying to find him anyway, Lord Orochimaru is never far from his side." Naruto just chuckled to himself lightly.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised at how many times I've been 'outclassed' in a fight. Some might have said Sasori of the Red Sand or Deidara of Iwa should have been too much for me." Guren gasped, she had heard those names before; they were members of the organisation Orochimaru used to belong to and supposedly he wasn't even the most powerful of them. Still, she didn't believe that this kid had managed to defeat two S-ranked missing-nin, there was no way.

"You're lying." Naruto just sighed and drew something out of his pocket, showing her the two rings in his hand as his ears continued to twitch. Guren gasped again, he recognised the rings as the same type that Orochimaru wore on his one hand. She looked up at Naruto again, trying to puzzle out what it was he was hiding that made him so powerful, apart from the Kyuubi of course. According to Kabuto though he had minimal control over the fox, letting his anger get the best of him.

"So what? This doesn't-"

"Shhh" Naruto held up a hand to halt her, earning him an irritated look as he pressed his ear to the floor of the cavern "Do you hear that?" Guren looked around but couldn't hear anything except for the gentle drip of water. As she listened closer though she could faintly make out the sounds of clacking, like when a crab opens and closes its claw.

"What is that?" Naruto just shrugged before spotting something behind Guren, it looked like a full miniature version of Isobu and it looked hungry. Naruto reacted on a sixth sense, spinning on a heel and grabbing another of the creatures before it could bite him. He looked it in the face, noting its angry and hungry expression before throwing it across the room, only to see hundreds more surrounding the pair.

"Shit, run for it!" They both took off, jumping over large groups of the miniature Sanbis to avoid getting swarmed. They stuck to the walls, ceiling, anything that the little tenacious turtles weren't already crawling on as they ran in any random direction. Naruto saw Guren trip over, the swarm right behind them, and didn't hesitate when he bent down and scooped her up into his arms.

"Hey, put me down! I'll just get rid of them with my Crystal Release!" Naruto just looked down at her sternly, using a hand to block hers before it could form into a sign.

"You'll only hurt yourself in your condition. We can outrun them." Naruto picked up the pace, leaving the majority of the swarm behind them as he took off, surprising Guren with his speed. Guren continued to struggle lightly but was prevented from doing much thanks to her injury.

"Put me down, I still have some pride you know!" Naruto just huffed to himself as he continued to run.

"Says the person working for Orochimaru." He looked at her defiantly, daring her to disagree with him. She narrowed her eyes in irritation but said nothing, crossing her arms under her chest instead. Naruto saw an alcove and made sure that they weren't being followed anymore before ducking in, hidden for now. He gently placed Guren back down where she immediately clutched the wound at her side. If she didn't get out of her soon it was only going to get worse.

"Why." She looked up at him, her eyes boring a hole through him. "I still don't understand why you're doing this!" Naruto looked at her, sighing before he dropped down onto the floor with her.

"I already told you, I'm not going to let anybody, Yukimaru included, have to go through what I went through. Nobody deserves that." Guren looked to the ground, clutching her wound tighter.

"I wouldn't let that happen!" Naruto narrowed his eyes before sighing again, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling.

"It's not something you can have control over. He would still be hated, loathed, feared, whether you want other people to feel that way or not. It's up to other people to befriend him, to look past the demon he would contain. You can't make them like him." He chuckled at the irony, talking about containing a demon he himself was stuck inside of. "One person would never be enough, you may think so but what about when you're gone? What about when there's nobody left for him and he's all alone? We're shinobi, our lifespan isn't great. Sooner or later you'll die and he'll be alone again, ripe for Orochimaru to manipulate into being a weapon." Guren clutched her hand tighter around her wound, causing more pain than relief.

"You don't understand, I have to help him. I took away the one place where he belonged, the one place where he could have had the life you described. I just want to give it back to him, to help him." Naruto looked down at her, sighing for the last time before a small smile spread across his features.

"Great." Guren looked up at him, a few tears streaking down her face as she remembered her pain, the past that would always haunt her.

"What?" Naruto kept his smile but didn't break his gaze away from the ceiling.

"I said great. Do that then. Help him, just don't let Orochimaru get his claws into him like he did you." Guren looked at him, still crying, like he was insane. "Run away, hide, find a place where he can be safe and live a normal life, I don't care as long as he's okay." Guren stopped crying, looking up at the blonde, blinking away the tears as best she could. "But first..." He looked around the cavern, his eyes narrowing as he examined every feature clearly "...that means I have to get you out of here."

He took a deep breath before standing up, offering his hand to Guren who took it shakily. He moved her back, a little closer to the entrance to the alcove before he made a one handed seal and a hundred or so shadow clones popped into existence. Guren stared at the massive amounts of clones with wide eyes before all of them clutched their wrists tightly. One hundred bright balls of swirling energy formed in the room and with a large battle cry that was uncommon for Naruto they all charged at one wall.

The many Rasengans crashed in to the wall, stopped momentarily but after a moment the clones just pushed harder and the rocky wall crumbled away under the combined assault. They started burrowing through, picking up pace with momentum as they broke through the wall into another cavern. The clones just charged straight through, repeating the process on another wall which also caved in short time.

Naruto repeated this cycle for as long as he had to, smashing through wall after wall, still chased by the swarm of mini-Isobu. When a clone ran out of energy he created two more, when their Rasengans wore out they created even bigger ones. Each time the smashed through a wall only to face another the clones would just grit their teeth in determination and continued running. Guren looked behind her, being carried by the original Naruto, at the path of destruction they had caused.

Finally a clone managed to break through a wall, only for a trickle of water to emerge from the hole he created. The other clones took this as a sign that they were getting closer and redoubled their efforts, pouring all the energies in their temporary bodies' into their attack until an enormous hole was created, gushing water into the Sanbi.

"Wait, what are you-?" Guren didn't get a chance to finish her statement before the water engulfed them completely. Both felt as though their bodies were being pulled in every direction at once before a sinking feeling overcame them and the two passed out.

* * *

Tayuya looked over in satisfaction at the tied up sound Shinobi although they had to take extra precautions with Gozu and Nurari considering how they could manipulate their bodies. Luckily, thanks to constant advice from Naruto, Fu carried around a large amount of Chakra suppressing rope in a storage scroll. It was practically standard issue for most ANBU considering the dangerous people they are sent after but she and Naruto had found a lot of use for it during the training trip.

Tayuya was marvelling at it when Gozu and Nurari woke up, completely unable to move or use their chakra in any way. The beauty of the rope was the intricate sealing array adorning the length of the thick cord. It absorbed the captive's chakra and actually used it to strengthen itself, it could be overloaded but that would require close to Kage or Biju levels of chakra, something they didn't have to worry about with these prisoners.

Unfortunately for them as soon as they realised they were captured they refused to even talk to them. Well, refused until Tayuya started threatening to cut off a certain male anatomical feature they would rather not lose; then they were all for talking. They didn't have much to offer though, all their orders came down through Guren, only Gozu had ever even seen Orochimaru, and that was only on an operating table. All they knew was the locations of the few bases they were allowed to enter, none of which Orochimaru frequented often.

Tayuya sighed to herself as she walked away from the prisoners, all the information was with Guren who was currently with Naruto in the stomach of the Sanbi. She looked longingly toward the ocean, just hoping for a sign that her boyfriend was all right. She sighed again, looking down at the ground as she walked back to the small camp she and Fuu had set up after they tied up the Sound-nin. Yukimaru was still unconscious from overexerting his ability and Fuu was fussing over him, bringing a small smile to Tayuya's lips.

"So, any change?" Fuu just looked up at Tayuya in mock annoyance before looking back at Yukimaru with concern.

"You tell me, you're the one with the medic skills." Tayuya just shrugged and waved a green glowing hand over Yukimaru's torso, diagnosing what she could.

"He's just exhausted, he'll probably wake up in-" Said boy's eyes flickered open at that point, looking up at the two teenagers staring down at him "-a few seconds apparently." She cursed, her diagnosis made it at least another half hour and that made her wonder if her medic skills were getting rusty. Well, it wasn't like she had a teacher or anything; it was mostly experimentation on herself. Really she could only heal herself, it was much easier that trying to force your chakra into somebody else's body.

The problem with medical ninjutsu is the fact that a body will always reject foreign chakra unless it is given time to build up in the system. That was also why a jinchuuriki has to be a child when the beast is sealed within them or their chakra system will become too developed and reject the foreign chakra of the biju. That's why it was a taxing process to heal somebody; you had to be constantly forcing your own chakra into their body, even as it was rejecting it despite being used to heal them.

Yukimaru gazed around; looking at the two girls, not fully comprehending what was going on until he remembered everything that had happened. His eyes shot open wide and his body snapped up as his hand immediately found its way into his tunic, rooting around until his whole body visibly relaxed and he withdrew the crystallised camellia. Fuu looked at him strangely, wondering why his focus was so intent on the flower.

"Its okay, Guren's okay." He seemed to be talking to himself more than anything but Tayuya caught his half mumbled words.

"What? How do you know she's okay?" Yukimaru just smiled and held up the crystal in both hands.

"If she was dead then this crystal would have shattered, its okay..." He frowned as he looked at it more carefully "...but it has a chip." Tayuya figured that probably meant the woman was injured or something but didn't really care. If this kid was right and Guren had survived being eaten then that meant Naruto could have too. The small spark of hope in her chest lit up like a bonfire causing her to stare wistfully out into the ocean again. At that point Yukimaru seemed to notice that he wasn't around people he knew anymore.

"H-Hey, what's going on? Where are Gozu and Nurari and the rest?" Tayuya just absently pointed a thumb back to where they were tied up.

"Over there, we had to tie them up in case they ran." Yukimaru looked at her fearfully, wondering if she was going to tie him up as well. As if reading his thoughts Fuu placed a comforting hand on his shoulder which made him look around to her, only to find her face startlingly close to his own. He looked away with a blush at the ground but was still a little frightened by what was going to happen to him now.

"It's okay Yukimaru, when Naruto gets back we can take you somewhere safe." He looked up again, this time making sure his face would be further away from hers.

"B-But what about Guren? I don't want to go anywhere without her." Fuu frowned lightly but didn't say anything else, supposedly the woman was alright but could she be trusted? Fuu feared the answer and it would have to be up to Naruto whenever he got back _'Come on Oniisan, where are you already?'_

* * *

Naruto woke up, more alert than he usually was after being knocked unconscious; he immediately picked himself up, noting that he was in some kind of rocky outlet on the coast. _'What the hell, how did I get here from the Sanbi's stomach?' H_e tried to put that odd question out of his mind as he looked around, spotting Guren lying limp over by some rocks. He quickly jogged over and checked to see if she was still breathing, when he felt a heartbeat and a breath against his hand he smiled before lightly shaking her shoulder, wondering if she would be this gentle if the roles were reversed.

She blinked her eyes open, groaning when the bliss of unconsciousness was replaced by the dull throb of pain in her side. She seemed to want to go back to sleep until she recognised the lightly smiling face hovering over hers.

"Naruto?" He just nodded before her body jolted upright, a panicked expression on her face. "Yukimaru?!" Naruto shook his head quickly but looked in the direction where he thought they had fought the three-tails.

"My friends should have him." Guren looked at him with anger until he put up a placating hand to calm her back down "Don't worry, they won't have hurt him, remember Fuu's there." He chuckled, remembering how he girl acted around the young boy; he felt a little excited at the prospect of being able to give somebody the 'big brother talk'. Guren just relaxed before wincing as her side acted up again. "Are you okay to walk?" Guren nodded before attempting to get up herself, only to fall and be caught by Naruto.

He just sighed and swung her around gently until she was in his arms again, bridal style. Guren blushed a little at the compromising position but Naruto didn't even notice, his concentration was elsewhere as he sorted through his muddled senses trying to locate Fuu's chakra signature. After a moment he found it and headed towards it at a fast, but gentle pace, intending on letting Fuu and Tayuya know he was okay and Yukimaru know that Guren was okay.

They picked their way through the forest until Naruto caught the smell of a campfire, his features breaking into a grin as he unconsciously quickened his pace. They broke through the tree line to a very surprised group of faces, which instantly turned into smiles as the people rushed to their respective loves-ones. Naruto and Guren were suddenly swarmed by Tayuya, Fuu, and Yukimaru as they made sure they were okay, at least until Tayuya noticed Guren.

"Hey, what's _she_ doing with you?" As far as Tayuya was concerned Guren was as much to blame as the other sound ninja that Naruto was eaten in the first place.

"It's alright Tayuya, we came to an arrangement, she and Yukimaru are going to travel with us for a while, at least until we can find them somewhere safe to live." Tayuya didn't seem particularly happy with this new arrangement but crossed her arms under her chest and gritted her teeth. She knew Naruto was stubborn when it came to things like this and if he could trust them then she supposed she could too.

"So Oniisan, what was it like inside the Sanbi?" Both Naruto and Guren just shuddered involuntarily, trying to force the memories out of their minds for good.

"Surprisingly spacious."


	47. Chapter 47

"So what do we do with these guys?" The five of them crowed around the trees that the other members of team Guren were tied to. Gozu and Nurari were still dazed and disoriented from what Naruto and Fuu did to them but Kigiri, Kihou, and Rinji were all looking at them fearfully.

"I dunno, we can't let them go. They'll just go running back to Orochimaru and tell him what we've done here." The captives shook their head furiously, unable to speak because of the lengths of cloth acting as gags.

"You're right but we can't take them with us, they'll only weigh us down or try to escape." Again the captives shook their heads desperately, all except Gozu anyway. Guren looked thoughtfully down at the group with a hand under her chin, staring at Gozu in particular. She walked over and crouched down in front of him so that they were eye to eye.

"Gozu, you once told me that you would walk to the ends of the earth for me, is that still true?" The large man nodded solemnly, not the agreement of a desperate prisoner but the sincere promise of a loyal follower. Guren stood back up with a small smile, looking over to Naruto with a small nod.

"This'll work, Gozu is loyal to me, not Orochimaru. He can carry them until we can get them to somewhere they can be locked away." Tayuya narrowed her eyes at the scene, still not particularly liking all of this. Understandably she still didn't trust Guren, mostly because not even an hour ago she was trying to kill Naruto. Naruto just looked between her and Gozu, eyeing them both for any sign of deceit or treachery before nodding tiredly.

"Fine, it's probably our best option anyway. It's not like we're cold hearted enough to just leave them here." Tayuya put a hand up to her chin with a contemplative expression.

"Well now that you-" Naruto looked over at her sternly.

"Tayuya, no." She huffed, putting her hands under her chest in annoyance.

"Sheesh, it was a joke. I swear you get eaten by the Sanbi and suddenly you have no sense of humour." Naruto smiled a little at the over the top display of annoyance before walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She mock fought against it at first before smiling herself and melting back into his arms. A simultaneous cough from Guren and Fuu snapped them out of their little world.

"Yes, well. I think we should probably get going; the base you wanted is in the Land of Hot Water so that means we'll have to charter a boat from one of the port towns to the north after we drop off these guys in Kirigakure." Naruto reluctantly separated from Tayuya, waving Guren off with a hand.

"Don't worry about that, I got it covered." Tayuya raised her eyebrow at the declaration but said nothing, content to try and capture Naruto's hands again to wrap around her waist where she felt they belonged. At this point Fuu perked up, having been quiet alongside Yukimaru until now.

"Umm, what about the Sanbi? Are we just going to leave it?" Again Naruto just waved away her concerns with a hand, also trying to return to his comfortable position with Tayuya.

"Nah, Kyuubi says after me and Guren burst out of its gut it's probably going to go and recuperate, plus Orochimaru doesn't have anything to capture it with now that Yukimaru's with us." He sent a small smile in the boy's direction who returned it with a little grin. Fuu just nodded hesitantly, uncomfortable with the idea of leaving a large angry turtle in a cove off of Water Country. "Now come on, I have to gather my strength before I can do another Grand Great Breakthrough so we might as well get a start on getting to Kiri."

The group nodded and set off after him after untying Gozu who promptly picked up the still bound members of his old team. It was a rag-tag group at best but few would be able to stand against them with two jinchuuriki, a crystal user, and Tayuya.

* * *

Two cloaked figures walked along the barren pathway, one seemingly a lot more excited than the other. Despite their organisation impressing the importance of subtlety on its members the two were more than noticeable. The first was relatively unremarkable save for the bright orange spiralling mask that only had one eye hole at the centre of the spiral. The second figure on the other hand would have turned heads even in the depths of Orochimaru's organisation. Apart from the fact that he had an enormous Venus-flytrap sprouting around his head people would have noticed that his body was split into two colours down the middle with a black and a white half.

"Come on Mr Zetsu, I think we're almost there!" Zetsu sighed for the umpteenth time that day, generally there was only so much he could put up with his fool of a partner before he started to look a little too tasty. "Now remind me again, which tailed beast are we after again?" Zetsu sighed to himself, in a more than literal sense considering his slightly differing personalities.

"The Sanbi." Tobi nodded vigorously and Zetsu could have sworn he could see the man's tongue sticking out underneath the mask as he concentrated. He held up his hand with all his fingers splayed before counting off each one.

"Ichibi... Nibi... and I'm Tobi!" He giggled maniacally to himself from behind his mask as they continued to trek down the path. "My Mr Zetsu you're being awfully quiet today, are you pollinating or something?" There was a moment of silence as the two figures paused on the road before Tobi doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down from behind his mask. Both sides of Zetsu grumbled in annoyance before walking on, content to simply ignore their blathering partner for now.

"Awww, did Tobi upset Mr Zetsu? Ooh ooh look, that place sells dango! Tobi can make it up to Mr Zetsu!" Sure enough Tobi pointed down the stretch of road to where a small restaurant sat at the top of a hill with a sign advertising their dango. Zetsu just shook his head as a negative, it wasn't like he even enjoyed the taste of normal food anyway, not enough raw meat for his liking. Tobi wailed from under his mask, this time tears of sadness streaming out as they walked past the restaurant.

"Why is Mr Zetsu so mean to Tobi? I try to be a good boy!" Zetsu continued to grumble as the few patrons of the restaurant turned their heads at the very odd sight passing by. When they had finally gone far enough that they weren't drawing curious and slightly frightened looks Zetsu finally quietened down. Tobi had adopted a saddened, hunched over pose as he walked in an overdramatic display of how upset he was.

"Tobi was looking forward to having dango with Mr Zetsu then he was sure to get into Akatsuki." Zetsu really was nearing the end of his considerable tether, the idiot persona of his partner just too much sometimes.

"**Obito, must you really play this fool of an idiot while we are alone? It drives me insane!"** There was another pause as both figures stopped on the road, looking at each other, one with irritation and the other, unreadable due to the mask.

"Tobi isn't a fool, Tobi is a good boy." The black half of Zetsu sighed again as they continued on down the road.

"Oh leave him alone, I like it. He reminds me of spiral." The black half would have sneered if he had a visible mouth to do so with.

"**A little too much if you ask me." **The white half just shrugged as Tobi continued to skip merrily down the path, swinging his arms in an exaggerated manner.

"Oh this is going to be fun, when Tobi captures the Sanbi then he's sure to get into the Akatsuki, for definite this time!" Both Zetsus glanced at him before returning their attention to the job at hand; capturing the Sanbi without it having a jinchuuriki host wasn't exactly going to be an easy feat. Preferably the organisation would have sent somebody like Kisame or Deidara considering their skills but Kisame was still trying to track down the Nanabi and Deidara had dropped off the map along with Sasori ever since they went to get the Ichibi.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me, there's no way we can water walk that far. We'll all run out of chakra and drown!" Guren was staring incredulously out at the open stretch of water that separated Water Country from the larger continent to the north and west. It must have been over thirty miles across at the thinnest gap and Naruto just expected them to walk across, she wasn't a Kage for Kami's sake!

"No, you'll go as far as you can then me and some clones will carry you, Tayuya, and Yukimaru. Fuu can fly and uhh..." He looked uncertainly across at Gozu, even if he did have the stamina to run across the large stretch of ocean he didn't think he could carry somebody that heavy. Guren just looked between them, chuckling to herself at Naruto's daunting expression.

"Oh don't worry about Gozu, out of all of us I would actually expect him to be able to make it, I don't think I've ever even seen him get tired." Naruto looked the man over again, taking in his rather simple features before shrugging.

"Well okay but if he starts to lag behind I'm definitely not carrying him." Gozu just nodded with his own small but determined smile as he looked out over the water then at Guren. "Well come on then, we might as well get going." The group all nodded before sprinting out over the waters, hoping they didn't get caught in a storm or something. Fuu unfurled her wings, taking to the air as she simultaneously shocked both Guren and Yukimaru. The former stared up at her with a raised brow, knowing that she was a jinchuuriki while the latter stared up with wonder as he looked at the sunlight stream through her semi-transparent wings.

After about an hour of running Guren was starting to visibly tire and slow down, as was Tayuya. As soon as he saw this Naruto immediately stopped and swung the redhead onto his back, re-picking up the pace as he tried to outrun Fuu's flight. A few minutes later he created two clones that repeated the procedure with Guren and Yukimaru. Once again Guren didn't exactly look like she was enjoying being carried but she found it a preferable option to drowning out here.

As the hours dragged on and Naruto just continued to run Guren could only stare at the clone carrying her in amazement. She didn't believe having stamina like this was even natural, or chakra levels this high even possible. To say she had underestimated Naruto would have been a definite understatement; even Fuu, a fellow jinchuuriki, had to come down from her flight every once in a while to rest on a clone's back while Naruto was able to charge right on.

Not only his stamina impressed her but his chakra control; he was able to simultaneously water-walk while creating and maintaining clones. Even when the water became choppy further out to sea he managed to maintain his balance and keep a startling pace. Guren thought she had seen the limits of his speed inside the Sanbi when they were escaping the Mini-Isobu but now she realised she hadn't even scratched the surface of what Naruto Uzumaki was capable of. Suddenly all those bravado-esque claims of defeating the Akatsuki and Orochimaru didn't seem all that far-fetched.

In all this time Yukimaru had simply been staring at Fuu, whether she was in the air or resting on one of the Naruto clones' backs. He too had marvelled at Naruto's abilities but not as much as he had Fuu's flight. She looked impossibly graceful as she rode air currents, sometimes not even having to flap her insect-like wings to stay airborne as she expertly rode the skies. They shimmered lightly in the sun and far from unappealing; their thin, glass-like appearance only intrigued the young boy even more.

Every so often Fuu would feel like she was being watched intently, only to turn around while flying or resting to see nothing out of the ordinary. Occasionally she would catch Yukimaru looking away from her as if he were purposefully avoiding her gaze while all the while his cheeks were tinged a faint red. She thought nothing of it; she was far too busy enjoying the feel of wind rushing by her skin, splaying her unruly hair out behind her.

Even so she kept note of it in her mind to possibly ask her older brother about it later, it intrigued her slightly the way Yukimaru acted so differently from Naruto. The only real interaction with boys Fuu had was with Bee-sensei and Naruto, other than the only other boys she had met her age were the ones in Hoshigakure and Chojuro. The boys in the Village Hidden in the Stars were all a little too aloof for her taste, even though that had improved slightly by the time she had left. Chojuro was exactly like Yukimaru, shy and timid, unless of course you put him in a battle situation, then he was breathtaking to watch.

It made her curious as to how boys could be so different; one end of the spectrum you had Naruto and Bee, the epitome of confidence yet at the same time kind and humble. Then you had people like Chojuro, just as kind and sweet but lacking confidence in themselves. Of course there were also the bad ones out there, the cocky guys who were too full of themselves or just plain cruel. For some reason Fuu couldn't figure out where Yukimaru seemed to fit in all of this; he seemed nice enough but she didn't get the feeling he was naturally shy like Chojuro, only around her. Maybe Tayuya would be a better person to ask seeing as she had found her way into Naruto's heart.

"Hey, I think I see land!" She called out to the rest of the group from her position high above them and caught the thumbs up from Naruto to acknowledge they had heard. He powered on, actually increasing his already speedy pace so that he could reach land quicker. He hoped they arrived in the right place, he should have moved in a straight line but sometimes with the waves he lost track. If they did go in the right direction then they should end up at the southern coast of the Land of hot water.

After another fifteen minutes Naruto was finally able to set his feet on land again, allowing his stiff passengers to get off his back. Tayuya for one just dropped to the ground, rolling around on the floor, glad to be back on solid ground where there was no threat of drowning. Guren and Yukimaru seemed just as pleased but were slightly less visible with their celebration. Naruto smiled at the warm scene before taking one step further inland and promptly fainting on the spot. Tayuya looked down at his crumpled form before stifling a laugh.

"Wow, looks like we found Naruto's limit, I thought I'd never see the day." Guren just nodded dumbly, she had been unsure of Naruto's abilities right up until the end and it seems that even five more minutes and they would have all been plunged into the freezing waters of the ocean.

"He's truly remarkable I have to admit." Tayuya raised an eyebrow in her direction as she hefted Naruto up under her arm.

"Don't be getting any ideas twinkles, he's mine, I found him first." Guren just laughed faintly and raised a placating hand as the odd group moved further into the country. She joked but a part of her was actually a little sorry that Naruto was taken, he was a remarkable person and Guren didn't hand out compliments like that to anybody.

* * *

"MR ZETSU!" Zetsu watched impassively as Tobi continued to make a fool out of himself as he was tossed around the large cove by the highly angered Sanbi. The half-plant man didn't understand why the man wouldn't simply use his abilities and end this already instead of acting the idiot and prolonging this. The black half finally grew too impatient; he had other assignments besides babysitting a fool that wouldn't act his own age or ability.

The formed Grass-nin plunged his hands into the ground at the edge of the coast, spreading out his chakra as a massive system of large roots burst upwards from his position. With more chakra he forced them across the lake until they formed a net that Tobi, and then the Sanbi promptly found themselves caught in. A few minutes later and Zetsu had suitably subdued the massive turtle, his wood style ninjutsu draining away the most potent of its demonic chakra. A soaked Tobi climbed out of the water onto the creature's upturned belly, looking around himself in wonder.

"Did you see that Mr Zetsu? My jutsu totally got him, now I'm sure to get into the Akatsuki!" Black Zetsu used the arm he controlled and firmly planted his face into it, really not wanting to deal with Tobi's antics right now. He turned and started walking away from the coast, leaving a confused and slightly panicked Tobi behind as he frantically waved his arms above his head.

"Mr Zetsu! What about the Sanbi! We still have to get it back to the base!" Zetsu didn't reply as he just continued to walk into the forest leaving Tobi to look around himself and scratch his head. Suddenly the beast beneath him roared out from under the water, nearly sending the masked figure toppling back into the ocean. Tobi frantically shook his hands down at the creatures belly "Uhh, good Sanbi?"

Zetsu could only smirk as the panicked cry rang through the forest.

"MR ZETSU!"

* * *

Fuu smiled as she looked down at Naruto's peacefully resting form, like everybody else she didn't believe that Naruto even had a limit; then again over thirty miles of water-running was impressive. She stretched out her arms a bit, still a little sore from hours of flight and sitting on Naruto's back. She smirked as she looked down at Tayuya lying next to her boyfriend, not asleep but using him as a pillow until he regained his strength and woke up. A part of Fuu wished she could have somebody like that; she knew her brother loved her but it could never be in that way.

While she would never call her life sheltered, especially before Naruto had found her, and she would never call him overbearing she knew that Naruto was very protective of her. She wasn't resentful and knew it was out of concern but it did have the side effect of keeping her from many things, boys her age for example. They always moved around too much for her to develop any meaningful relationships. She hoped that would all change when they got back to Suna but now here they were, out on the road again.

She was shocked out of her thoughts when she spotted Yukimaru over by a tree, staring into the crystallised flower of his. She looked behind her at Guren getting comfortable against a tree and wondered why Yukimaru was so obsessed with the crystal. At first she thought it was because it was his only connection to Guren when she wasn't there but she was right across the clearing from him. Everything about the boy was a mystery to her, his shy but warm personality, his past, his strange ability that made her feel an unrivalled calm.

She walked over, completely unnoticed as the boy was absorbed in the reflections in his crystal. Fuu wondered if there was any significance in the camellia but from the way Yukimaru couldn't tear his eyes away from it she knew there had to be.

"Hi." The boy's head darted up, shocked at getting sneaked up on despite Fuu making no attempt to do so.

"Uhh, Hi." Fuu smiled and sat down next to him, leaning against the same tree as she studied the crystal.

"So what's with you and that crystal? I know Guren gave it to you but there must be a story behind it." Yukimaru gulped and stared at the frozen flower before his gaze darted to Guren and finally back to Fuu.

"I like camellias, red or white. Instead of petals the entire flower drops from the tree and you can make ink from the tree itself." Fuu nodded along, it was actually quite interesting despite her knowing practically nothing about flowers. Yukimaru's eyes suddenly brightened as he looked around, settling on something further away from the camp. "I can show you something if that's okay." Fuu just nodded, now intrigued by what the boy was offering.

They picked themselves up and Yukimaru led her away from the clearing while his eyes darted around as if he was looking for something. Finally he smiled warmly as he picked up a leaf, nodding at it as if he was appraising it. He fiddled with it for a while before motioning for Fuu to come closer; she did so and he smiled at her, a warm expression that made Fuu's heart flutter a bit.

"My mother showed me this before she..." He looked away sadly and for some reason Fuu hated to see him like that, already moving a hand to place it on his shoulder comfortingly. He perked up a little before bringing her over to a nearby tree, leaning against it as he placed the leaf against his mouth. Fuu watched and listened in amazement as he proceeded to whistle through the leaf as if it were a flute.

The music he made was beautiful, sad and heart-wrenching, but beautiful. She was captivated by it, unable to tear her eyes away from him even as he lost himself to the sadness in the song. It bore his pain, the loneliness from his life without his mother; it picked up at parts as he remembered Guren and all she had done for him but the sombre overtones remained. When he finally finished and set the leaf down to one side he looked across only to see a single tear running down Fuu's caramel cheek.

"Fuu, are you ok-?" He wasn't allowed to finish as the mint-haired girl leant across and captured him in a tight, comforting hug, new tears coming to replace the ones she had already wept. She parted from him, leaving him a little dazed and left with the scent of her hair in his nose as she wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks.

"That was beautiful, where did you learn it?" Yukimaru suddenly seemed rather uncomfortable as he glanced between Fuu and the discarded leaf on the ground.

"I didn't, I just sort of make it up." Fuu blinked a few times, not quite willing to believe that the music she had heard was anything but rehearsed. He looked down again at the leaf before looking back up at her, red now tingeing his features. "Fuu, can ask you something?" She nodded, not quite sure why she suddenly felt her heart rush and unconsciously leaned closer to Yukimaru. "Can I see your wings?" Fuu blinked a few times, frozen in place as her mind did a complete one eighty.

"Uhh, yeah I guess." She stood up and allowed her wings to unfurl, stretching a bit to relieve the discomfort that built up when she kept them suppressed for too long. They still ached a bit from all the flying she had to do across the sea; even the rests on Naruto's back didn't do much good. Yukimaru just stared at them with wonder making Fuu feel just a little self conscious as she curled in on herself just a little.

The young boy stood up and walked over, gaze still fixed on the semi-transparent set of wings that branched out to either side of Fuu like a dragonfly. Recently she had been able to use four of them but having to take a leap up from two by skipping the third 'tail' was difficult. It was only a partial transformation so there was none of Chomei's actual chakra involved, just a manifestation of her own, much like a transformation jutsu but more solid.

Yukimaru traced a hand across the surface of the wing, following a light vein as it wound its way through the paper-like surface hypnotically. Fuu let out a little giggle at the soft touches, surprised when she found it tickle her. Naruto never teased her for her wings, in fact he loved them, but he had never touched them like this and Fuu found her heart beating a little faster. She wasn't sure what to make of all these strange sensations as Yukimaru continued to stroke her wings in an almost trance-like state.

"They're incredible." Fuu blushed from the praise, not sure how to take somebody being so entranced by her wings.

"Thanks?" Yukimaru emerged from her other side, smiling warmly.

"It must be incredible to be able to fly free like a bird, floating on the wind like an errant petal, astray from its tree." Fuu blinked at the poetic way the boy described it, finding herself lost in his bottomless magenta eyes. His warm, innocent smile captivated her and again she found herself unconsciously drifting closer towards him. Fuu almost couldn't stop herself as her lips drifted closer to his, Yukimaru only noticing what was happening right before Fuu...

"Hey, did I hear someone playing a flute over here?" Fuu jerked back, nearly tripping over her own feet as she tried to put distance between herself and Yukimaru before Tayuya emerged from the trees. The older girl took in the scene with a trained eye, noticing the matching blushes adorning the two younger teens' faces. She also saw the way neither were meeting her in the eye, or each other for that matter; a very mischievous smirk found its way onto Tayuya's lips.

"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt you two." Fuu's head shot around, her blush's intensity instantly doubled.

"It's not like that, why don't you just mind your own damn business?" Without another word her wings flapped powerfully and she took off into the air using strong strokes of her wings to propel herself further away from the embarrassing scene. Tayuya just raised an eyebrow, not quite expecting such a powerful reaction from the girl before turning to Yukimaru who now seemed a little lost.

"Don't worry kid, she'll come around." Yukimaru blinked a few times before shyly letting his head droop to the floor. Tayuya actually found the scene a little adorable, seeing what Fuu saw in the kid.

"I just, she, then-" Tayuya just lightly patted him on the back with a half smile, half smirk.

"I was kidding kid, don't worry about it." Yukimaru looked up with a weak smile. "Now, did I or did I not hear someone playing a flute or am I going crazy from being near Naruto to long?" Yukimaru's smile gained a bit of confidence as he rushed back over to where he had discarded the leaf, showing it to Tayuya who found the makeshift instrument interesting. "Budding musician eh? No wonder Fuu likes you." Yukimaru blushed again but tried to gain some confidence back by playing a short melody on the leaf-flute.

It wasn't as long, or as sombre as the one he played to Fuu, it contained more of a nostalgic feel; it had an equal impact on Tayuya though. She didn't cry but she still found the music he produced to be powerful and moving, it really came from the heart. She pulled out her spare flute from the red pouch on her belt, looking it over with a scrutinising eye before offering it to Yukimaru. The boy just looked at it tentatively before taking it, staring at t like it was made of gold. Tayuya gave him a rare heartfelt smile before walking back to camp with him.

"Don't worry Yukimaru, you and I are going to get along just fine."

* * *

Not much was said as the group trudged across the open fields of the Land of Hot Water that stretched on in a similar manner to the deserts surrounding Suna. Occasionally an outcropping of rock would just up from the otherwise barren landscape, breaking apart the horizon to stop travellers from going insane. Naruto wasn't sure how they were supposed to find one of Orochimaru's bases all the way out here in the middle of nowhere but he followed Guren anyway.

There was a slight tension amongst the group, Fuu and Yukimaru seemed to be trying to walk as far apart from one another as physically possible. Tayuya on the other hand was throwing amused and knowing looks between the two, smirking every now and again from Naruto's side. He had noticed that Yukimaru now carried one of Tayuya's flutes and was a little happy that she was opening up to somebody else. He was also glad she had a fellow musician to talk to now, once she had tried to get him to take up an instrument but his attention hadn't been in it.

Guren raised a hand as they came across a rather large group of three boulders that towered up above them. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to remember exactly what the entrance looked like the last time she had been there. Finally she nodded with a small smile, turning back to the group as she pointed to the boulders.

"Were here, this is Orochimaru's base."


	48. Chapter 48

"Alright, Gozu, you stay out here with Yukimaru and look after him." Naruto turned to where Fuu was eagerly looking towards the boulders marking the entrance, "You as well Fuu." The girl turned to him questioningly and a little hurt, thinking he doubted her abilities. He just shook his head with a warm smile as he enveloped her smaller body in a deep hug. "This isn't like before Fuu, Orochimaru might be in there and if anything happened to you I couldn't live with myself." He broke away and caught the shy nod she gave him; encouraged by that he motioned for Tayuya and Guren to follow him while the rest of them backed away.

"Alright Guren, you've been here before, how do we get in?" Guren just moved him to the side before approaching the rock formation confidently. Her hands blurred through a set of hand seals faster than Naruto could keep track off before slamming them down on the ground. The largest of the boulders swung away with an ear-wrenching grinding sound to reveal a candle-lit staircase. Naruto threw one last glancing smile towards Fuu before he descended the stairs with Guren and Tayuya in tow, the boulders swinging back down to hide them.

As soon as they entered the dank, cold staircase Naruto felt a sense of foreboding that permeated the air like a fog, clouding his senses and sending shivers up his spine. Tayuya saw this and put a hand on his shoulder before sending a pulse of her chakra through his system.

"Strong Genjutsu, meant to make you feel insecure and frightened, probably compensating for a lack of guards or something." The redhead looked around with a small smirk, her eyes showing moderate appreciation for the powerful Genjutsu. While not life-threatening in itself it might just give the attacker not affected an advantage strong enough to get the upper hand. She could appreciate the subtlety with which it was applied as well, probably spread throughout the entire base.

Guren led them further down the eerily similar corridors, all bearing the same criss-crossed pattern of wood as door after identical door passed them by on both sides. If Naruto or Tayuya were here without Guren they would have certainly gotten lost in the endless array of maze-like tunnels that stretched on seemingly endlessly. Luckily the Blue-haired Kunoichi seemed to know where she was going, leading them confidently further into the base.

"Sasuke should be in the rooms at the centre of the complex, I have no idea which but at least it narrows it down." Naruto nodded, setting his senses all around them on the lookout for any guards that might be patrolling. It almost unnerved him how silent the entire complex was; he hadn't heard a footstep or even trickle of water since they entered. It was almost too quiet for a place that Orochimaru himself frequented.

"Where are all the guards?" Guren looked around, shushing Tayuya with a finger to her lips but Naruto had to agree with her.

"Shouldn't there be sound Shinobi patrolling or something?" Naruto whispered it but the sound of his voice still echoed through the corridors thanks to the otherwise silent background.

"No, apparently Orochimaru wants to keep his precious Uchiha away from the rest of the sound ninja, this entire complex is entirely for him to train in." Naruto detected the hint of spite in Guren's hushed voice; he could tell she wasn't particularly fond of Sasuke. They continued to rush through the complex, their feet making no sound on the wood-panelled floor. Naruto had long ago applied the same silencing seals he put on his Fuijin no iki Kunai to his sandals, it eliminated him having to try and be sneaky, also letting him run as fast as he liked without making a sound.

Tayuya had trained herself to be silent, using her above-average hearing to make sure she never created a sound louder than anything in the surroundings. Guren created a layer of very fine crystals across the soles of her sandals which muffled any noises she made. In essence the three made no sound whatsoever as they rushed through the complex like ghosts. Once again Guren raised a hand and they all came to a stop in another identical corridor, nothing discerning it from the hundreds of others they ran through.

"Alright, we're in the inner compound." Tayuya just looked around confused.

"How can you tell, it all looks the same?" Guren just pointed to one of the many candle brackets on the walls and Naruto immediately noticed that it was set in a different metal to the ones they had passed before. He never would have noticed that if Guren hadn't pointed it out,

"Okay, now what?" Tayuya stared back at Naruto incredulously again.

"Seriously, don't you ever plan anything?" Naruto just shrugged with a sincere grin.

"My life's not the type you can plan." Tayuya was about to retort but she had to admit he sort of had a point. Her shoulders sagged as she returned to just boredly looking around, not that there was anything to see of interest.

"I think we should split up, I'm not familiar enough with this part of the complex to locate the Uchiha and I assume neither of you are sensor-nin." When she saw Tayuya and Naruto shake their heads she nodded and made a move to run off into the adjoining corridor. Tayuya quickly caught her hand, smirking to herself.

"Actually, I have a better idea." Tayuya moved back a bit into the centre of the corridor before moving through a few hand seals and slamming her hand into the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" In a poof of smoke she was surrounded by a flock of falcons who all seemed confused as to why their summoner had brought them to this dank hallway. "Alright guys, I need you to spread out and look for Sasuke Uchiha, dark blue hair, looks like an emo with a duck's ass on his head, you can't miss him. When you find him come back here and tell me." The falcons all looked amongst themselves in what looked like an unsure manner before flying off down all the corridors.

"Hmm, you know I could have just done that with Shadow clones." Tayuya raised an eyebrow in his direction, leaning against the wall of the corridor.

"Well you could have mentioned that before I summoned them." Naruto just shrugged in his lazy way and joined Tayuya by the wall, both of them sliding down until they were in a seated position with Tayuya rested her head on Naruto's shoulder. They both waited for the falcons to return while watching a candle flicker in its holder. Guren just stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of what to do in this situation. Tayuya noticed her discomfort and smirked, reaching up her hands towards the bluenette.

"Aww, is somebody feeling left out?" Guren just scowled at her in irritation which left Tayuya to chuckle into Naruto's shoulder. Naruto just smiled apologetically in Guren's direction before the former sound-nin turned to keep watch of the corridor they came from. Finally they all heard the flap of wings, Naruto before the girls, and watched as a single eagle turned the corner, before getting promptly zapped into oblivion by a bolt of lightning.

Tayuya and Naruto scrabbled to their feet just as a slightly irritated Uchiha rounded the corner giving everybody the chance to look him over. Naruto couldn't see all that much change in him in the two years that had passed, his hair now hung in bangs down his face which had gotten more angular. He had also changed his clothing, although whether or not it was for the better was questionable. He now wore a light grey shirt loosely tied with a dark purple rope which matched the colour of the pants his shirt was tucked into.

"Are you the ones who sent those falcons to find me?" Naruto stared him down, cocking his head as he took in the sword on the teen's back.

"Hey duck-butt, remember me?" Naruto looked at Tayuya with an expression which clearly said 'is now really the time for that?' Tayuya just shrugged as a response before they all turned their attention to Sasuke again.

"No." Tayuya actually seemed a little offended before the Uchiha turned his attention to the other two intruders. "You, you are one of Orochimaru's lackeys, what are you doing with these intruders." Guren didn't reply, instead crossing her arms over her chest as a thin layer of crystal began to form across her body, unseen to everybody present. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, he didn't like being ignored but it was the last intruder who intrigued him.

"You, you're one of the ones who captured me." His eyes narrowed as the Sharingan whirred into life "Where is the one who could manipulate sand?" Naruto smiled cockily, wondering where this guy got off making demands.

"Sorry, Gaara was too busy to come and kick your ass for a third time; I'm here in his stead. Now if you wouldn't mind knocking yourself unconscious so I can get a look at that hickey mark on your neck that would just be great." He smiled pleasantly at the end earning him a few snickers from Tayuya while Sasuke remained unimpressed.

"Fine, you will be a good test for my new skills" Naruto gave him another fake smile as somewhere near Tenshi bridge a pale kid with no fashion sense sneezed loudly, startling his fellow Shinobi.

"Are you sure you don't want to just knock yourself unconscious? It would be a whole lot less painful." Sasuke sneered, his three-tomoe Sharingan already spinning in anticipation.

"For you maybe." Naruto just nodded with a bemused expression as if Sasuke was just pointing out the obvious.

"Well yeah, that too I guess." Sasuke was starting to tremble with his annoyance and anticipation.

"Big talk for a man that hides behind women." A smirk found its way onto Sasuke's face as Tayuya's dropped right off her's. She had been about to step forward and fight but in a moment of calm she stepped back, taking Guren with her.

"Kick his fucking ass Shithead." Naruto looked at her questioningly, she wasn't usually the type to step back from a fight but he wasn't going to disappoint her now.

"Sorry, I was going to make this quick but you insulted Tayuya; she's not going to be happy until I break at least five of your bones." He took a look at Tayuya who was frowning at him "Sorry, six." Tayuya smiled happily, content to watch her boyfriend do all the work.

"Enough of this." Sasuke disappeared from where he had been standing in a burst of speed that defied the human eye to follow. Unfortunately Naruto could see it all too well, moving out of the way at the last minute as Sasuke's electricity-charge fist passed right by his face. At the last moment he stuck out a leg, tripping Sasuke and sending him tumbling forwards, cracking his head against the floor.

"Ole!" Even Guren had to snicker at that as Sasuke picked himself up, Naruto could have used that moment to subdue the 'last' Uchiha but he had promised to draw this out. Sasuke stood and glared at him angrily, a light growl emanating from his throat.

"How did you move that fast, my Sharingan couldn't predict it." Naruto smiled whole-heartedly.

"There's a reason I'm called the most unpredictable ninja in Wind country" Sasuke continued to growl as he sprinted at Naruto again and this time the blonde didn't bother to dodge out of the way. He countered the first punch, then the second, blocked a kick with his leg before ducking under a third lightning infused fist. Every time he only brought his arm or leg up at the last possible moment, not giving Sasuke's Sharingan enough time to read his movements.

Sasuke grew angry as his punches continued to be blocked or dodged seemingly without Naruto having any trouble at all. Finally Naruto saw an opportunity when Sasuke overextended his arm which Naruto promptly caught. He spun around, using his arm as a lever to send his elbow into Sasuke's ribs. Naruto let go and backed up when he heard a satisfying crack emanate from Sasuke's torso.

"That's one." Sasuke gritted his teeth through the pain, refusing to cry out as he straightened himself up and settled back into a combat stance. "Really, you're going to try that again? I thought Uchiha were supposed to be intelligent." Sasuke said nothing; instead he tried to speak through his fists as he unleashed a devastating series of high-powered, high-speed blows on Naruto. At least they would have been devastating, if any of them had actually reached their target.

Naruto was nothing but a blur as he nimbly moved his body out of the way of Sasuke's blows. He added insult to injury by putting is arms behind his back, making no attempt to try and block the blows, content to bend his body in all the ways Yugito had taught him. Because his hands were behind his back Sasuke couldn't react fast enough when Naruto did finally retaliate, spinning on the spot to launch a powerful backhand at Sasuke's ribs again.

This time the Uchiha was prepared for such a manoeuvre though and blocked; unfortunately for him Naruto wasn't the type to blindly repeat a move just because it worked. As soon as Sasuke made a move to block Naruto disappeared from view, only appearing a moment later behind the Uchiha in order to deliver a devastating blow to his side. Again Naruto heard a crack as another rib was fractured by the force of his blow.

"Two." Sasuke ignored the injury as he spun around, attempting to hit the agile blonde while he thought he was weakened, to no avail. Naruto followed the movement, spinning at the same time Sasuke did so they were back to back and Naruto was right behind Sasuke. Said Uchiha was confused when he turned only to see thin air before Naruto used him as a springboard to launch himself away, leaving Sasuke to tumble to the ground, Naruto's foot leaving yet another rib broken.

"Three." Sasuke finally wised up as he stood to his feet, clutching his midsection in pain as he re-appraised his opponent.

"You're fast" Sasuke grumbled it out in begrudging respect for the flighty blonde, actually admitting that his opponent had the upper hand in one aspect.

"I try, now would you hold still, we still have three more bones to go." The small iota of respect Naruto had gained in Sasuke's eyes immediately shattered as the Uchiha flashed through a set of hand signs.

"Fire style: Grand fireball Jutsu!" The Uchiha took a deep breath before exhaling his Chakra infused breath over the tiger seal he formed with his hands which acted as the spark needed to ignite the attack. Naruto span through his own seals and breathed in before the fire could reach him.

"Wind Style: Grand great breakthrough!" Normally only an idiotic Shinobi would ever try to counter a fire Jutsu with a wind jutsu seeing as the air only empowered the fire, feeding it to make it larger and stronger. Then again those Shinobi didn't have the incredible affinity to wind that Naruto did. The gust of wind he exhaled from his lungs not only empowered Sasuke's fireball, it overpowered it, turning the raging ball of flames and sending it right back at its creator.

Sasuke could only widen his eyes in surprises as the flames were halted before changing course to head straight at him. He could only turn and run until he found a corridor that branched off to the side. He immediately dived in, just in time as he felt the fireball fly by, singing his feet slightly before it struck the intersection. The explosion the oxygen-fed fireball created was enough to shroud the area in a thick layer of dust and earth. Naruto waited a few moments to see if Sasuke had survived, he really hoped he had otherwise he was back to square one on the whole curse mark problem.

Finally the dust cleared enough that Naruto could see thin rays of sunlight stream through, illuminating the corridor as it revealed the gaping hole in the compound that now led outside. Sasuke finally stumbled into view, wincing each time his feet made contact with the ground as burned skin was rubbed against the soles of his sandals. Naruto watched impassively, trying to ascertain if the Uchiha had broken any bones from that attack, he didn't want his count to be off.

"Seriously, what kind of asshole uses a fireball technique in a corridor? That's just asking for trouble." Sasuke just sneered at him, trying to stand straighter despite all his various injuries.

"You're so interested in my curse mark? Fine, I'll let you see it as much as you want!" Naruto watched with a cocked head as black flame-like markings crept along Sasuke's skin until he was completely covered in them. The black marking glowed red for a second before they merged, darkening the Uchiha's skin into a mottled grey as his hair grew longer, changing to a light purple colour. A matching cross appeared above the bridge of his nose as his sclera turned black, retaining the red of his Sharingan. Finally a pair of rather creepy hand-like wings sprouted from his back.

"Huh, so that's what your curse mark does, it turns you into a woman. Interesting, but I fail to see the point of that." Sasuke sneered with his now purple-tinted lips, using a powerful downwards sweep of his wings to lift himself into the air.

"Make all the jokes you want, you die here now." Naruto waved a dismissive hand at the flying Uchiha as he turned back around to Tayuya.

"He healed; do I have to start the count again?" Tayuya just nodded exasperatedly while Naruto lurched forward in irritation before turning to Sasuke again.

"Uuugh, you just made it harder!" he sprinted at Sasuke so fast that it appeared he was there one second, then right below him the next. With one powerful leap Naruto sprang up and in a similar move to the one he used on Sasori, used his momentum to swing up and strike Sasuke in the face with the heel of his foot. He swung back off, landing outside of the compound in a grassy plain, checking back over his shoulder to see an irritated Sasuke clutching his face.

"Okay, One... again." Sasuke snarled again, his body crackling with lightning as his uncontrolled irritation got the better of him. He withdrew his sword, one eerily similar to that of Orochimaru's Kusanagi which told Naruto he didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. So when Sasuke, with a powerful sweep of his wings, sped at Naruto from the air he dodged backwards, back flipping until he was out of range of the dangerous sword.

As he moved away he made sure to flick his arm out, unsealing a good number of his kunai as he did so, not bothering to grab them before spreading out over the field. Sasuke looked around him, trying to find the purpose of such a technique considering none of the kunai even came close to touching him. Naruto grinned as he realised Sasuke was completely unaware of the danger he was in; instead he was focusing on Naruto.

"I'm guessing Orochimaru didn't tell you anything about my abilities then?" Sasuke sneered but said nothing, all the answer Naruto needed. Sasuke tried to repeat his move, speeding at Naruto with his sword raised. The blonde just looked bored, not even moving into a defensive stance as the grey-skinned Uchiha approached rapidly. In the instant before Sasuke's blade would have pierced his unprotected neck Naruto vanished, Sasuke didn't even see a muscle twitch, he just disappeared. Reacted on the sixth sense all Shinobi train to perfect Sasuke blocked a spinning kick from behind with his wing, turning only to see the same thing.

Again, he swivelled in an instance, using his leg to intercept another blow only for Naruto to vanish as soon as Sasuke saw him. Growing impatient Sasuke began to channel the Chakra in his body, blocking attacks that came out of nowhere and disappeared in a similar manner. Finally when he felt he had built it up enough he released it all in one go.

"Chidori current!" The next time Naruto appeared he was suddenly shocked as numbing electricity arced through his body, leaving him unable to move as his muscles contracted uncontrollably. Sasuke turned, a smirk on his face as he saw the immobile Naruto, stuck in position. He raised his sword almost lazily before bringing it down to cleave Naruto's head from his shoulders only For Naruto to disappear again, reappearing near the kunai farthest from Sasuke's position.

"How did you do that? You shouldn't even be able to move!" Naruto smiled weakly, finding it difficult to control the muscles in his face right now.

"Got to have secrets you know." Already he was leeching the foreign lighting chakra from his system as Kyuubi repaired the damage that it had done to his muscles allowing him to stand up again, albeit a little shakily. He stretched out his muscles as Sasuke approached him again, only for Naruto to disappear as soon as he was close; it was like the Uchiha never learned.

"Stop that!" Sasuke was visibly angry now while Naruto just smirked, feeling his body finally come back under his control.

"Okay, if you insist." Naruto clutched his wrist and forced Chakra into his palm, rotated it and concentrated it down while all the while feeding it until it grew to the size of his body. Sasuke stared at the enormous mass of violent Chakra contained in Naruto's hand until the blonde reared back his hand like he was throwing a baseball. Naturally Sasuke dodged to the side as the glowing blue sphere sailed past him, what he wasn't expecting was the thin blue thread that connected it to Naruto's hand.

Naruto tugged the Rasengan back like a yoyo, sighing in relief as it firmly smacked Sasuke in the back, shredding into his wings as the Uchiha cried out in pain. Still not finished Naruto brought the Rasengan mace back up with a flick of his wrist before slamming it back down into Sasuke's prone body like a sledgehammer. There was a flash of light as the energies were released before Naruto had to wait for the various dust and smoke to clear.

He caught Tayuya and Guren emerging from the hole they made in the complex and waved over to them cheerily. Tayuya waved back while Guren just looked between the blonde and the settling cloud of dust, as well as the ground littered with Kunai.

"I'm pretty dure that counts for at least four." He idly pointed in he direction of the smoke cloud while Tayuya grinned. Naruto was a little distracted by the new arrivals that he almost didn't catch the blur that shot out of the cloud of smoke and dust. As it was he saw it but wasn't quite fast enough to intercept it before Sasuke managed to firmly clasp his hand around Tayuya's neck.

Naruto unconsciously started to send lightning chakra to his muscles and wind chakra to his Tenketsu even as he sprinted towards the scene. Time slowed down for him, literally as his reflexes were temporarily tripled and his speed was markedly increased. He watched as Sasuke brought his sword around, ready to piece Tayuya's heart before she could even cry out. Naruto's footsteps began to create small craters in his wake as he increased the power to his body, moving at speeds unimaginable to most.

He arrived just in time to divert Sasuke's sword as it was an inch from Tayuya's chest, slamming into the Uchiha's arm with enough force to shatter the bones inside, despite the curse mark. He didn't even stop as he grabbed the same arm and spun with it, launching a rapid kick at Sasuke's exposed back before pivoting in the opposite direction to again slam the same foot into the Uchiha's unprotected front. From the outside it looked like the Uchiha was standing perfect still when in actuality Naruto was repeatedly kicking him back and forth so quickly that his net displacement was negligible.

It was over in a second; Naruto had managed to break most of Sasuke's ribs, two places in his legs and shattered one arm completely. He let the broken Sharingan-wielder fall to the floor in a crumpled heap, watching as the curse mark receded back into his neck. Naruto didn't even realise that his canines had elongated and his eyes had flipped into red and black slits. He snarled down at Sasuke with an audible growl that promised even more pain even though said Uchiha was unconscious.

"Don't you ever try and hurt Tayuya." He gave the limp body another powerful kick for good measure before he reigned in his emotions. His feral appearance receded leaving behind a weary and angry Naruto who looked around to make sure Tayuya was okay. What he saw was a face full of amazement from Tayuya and another in equal disbelief from Guren.

"What?"

* * *

Tayuya and Guren sat nervously outside of the door which Naruto had practically dragged Sasuke's unconscious body into. Apparently he didn't stay that way long if the cries of pain emerging from behind the door were anything to go on. They stopped abruptly which Tayuya took to mean Naruto had put up privacy seals making her shudder as she subconsciously rubbed her curse mark. She was thankful that Naruto had Sasuke to do his tests on; she knew her blonde boyfriend would never intentionally hurt her but she didn't like the sounds that came from that room.

Finally he emerged, wiping his hands of something that Tayuya would have preferred not to know, even if the Uchiha had deserved it. He looked up at them like he was surprised to see them sitting just outside the room before glancing back inside and smiling sheepishly. Tayuya stared at him for a moment, wondering how he could act so casual after that but decided to disregard that train of thought, it was Naruto.

"What did you do to him in there?" Guren was also curious and turned her head to look up at Naruto.

"It's probably best if you don't know." Tayuya was still curious but from the tone of Naruto's voice she believed him and didn't ask anything else. Naruto sighed as he closed the door behind him, not particularly caring what Sasuke did at this point. He understood enough about the curse mark now that he had created a seal that completely suppressed it and then made that seal a bitch to crack just to piss of Orochimaru.

"You know, for a paedophilic asshole Orochimaru was a genius, that Curse mark is one of the most complicated pieces of Fuinjutsu I've seen, second only to mine, Fuu's and Bee's seals." Tayuya hung her head in sadness, she had thought as much considering the time Naruto was in there. She had seen the time it took him to immediately analyse and break down the seal of that pseudo ANBU Shinobi they had encountered, it only took him seconds, He was in that room for over half an hour, that could only spell trouble for her.

"It's incredibly complex but basically it's got four main aspects; some kind of injector for this weird enzyme which I think triggers the mutation at the level two, a Chakra converter that I'm still figuring out, slight mind altering properties, mostly to boost aggression and sadistic tendencies and..." He trailed off, realising he had just allowed himself to ramble while Tayuya looked up at him expectantly.

"And... what?" Naruto sighed while looking down at the floor "Come on Shithead, what's the last part of the seal?" Naruto looked up at her, his face completely serious, more so that she had ever seen him before.

"The last part of the seal is a housing for a part of Orochimaru's soul." Silence reigned in the corridor for a good five seconds before Tayuya's eyes widened in horror.

"WHAT!" Naruto cringed from the volume of her voice as she desperately clawed at her neck, only causing herself more pain in the process. Naruto walked over and gently took her wrist, stopping herself before she tried to tear the mark off her shoulder entirely. He held her close, pulling her into a hug while he tried to put across as much comfort as he could. She clung to him and probably would have sobbed into his shirt if Guren hadn't been there watching.

"Tayuya, I promised that I would get that thing off of you. It's taken longer than I thought and its going to take just a bit longer but I swear that I will get rid of it, then we'll make that bastard pay." Tayuya looked up at him allowing him to wipe away her tears before they were allowed to form before nuzzling back into his shirt. Guren just stood in the corridor awkwardly before backing out towards the hole Naruto had made earlier to get some fresh air. After five minute of just hugging in the silent corridor Tayuya finally let go of Naruto who let her move back away from him until she was leaning against the wall of the corridor.

"His soul? How is something like that even possible?" Naruto sighed again, idly playing with a spot of dirt that stained his shirt before looking up.

"I'm not entirely sure but I have all my notes to go through still and now that I have the difficult part out of the way I can use your seal to finish it up." Tayuya nodded tiredly, the information all just a bit too much for her right now. Naruto saw this and moved over, pulling Tayuya onto his back; for once she didn't complain, allowing him to carry her around like a child while she buried her face into his neck. Naruto managed a weak smile as he followed Guren's lead towards the improvised exit, when he got to Kumo Tayuya would take up all his attention.


	49. Chapter 49

Naruto had never been so happy to see the imposing gates into Kumogakure, the journey there had been a long one. To say that the mood was depressing would be like saying Iwa-nin only slightly disliked Minato Namikaze. Ever since the revelation regarding Tayuya's curse mark at Orochimaru's base the atmosphere around the rag-tag group had been sombre at the best of times. Only Yukimaru was able to bring a small amount of light into the otherwise bleak and dark days.

Naruto had grown to enjoy the younger boy's company, most of the time he could find a reason to be happy at anything. He would spend his time flitting from one member of the group to another, chatting with Naruto, learning the flute from Tayuya, holding hands with Guren, getting a piggy-back ride from Gozu or shyly walking alongside Fuu, only briefly exchanging glances with one another. Naruto had felt something going on between those two and honestly he was happy about it, Yukimaru was a great kid, someone he felt was perfect for his little sister.

However he wasn't really the matchmaking type, having been useless in romance until it was painfully pointed out to him by Tayuya. Instead he just decided to let things run their natural course and let Fuu do whatever made her happy; in his eyes that was all that mattered. His mind deviated off its brief but welcome tangent onto the topic that had been daunting him for days now. His eyes naturally drifted over to where Tayuya was walking in front of him, showing a few hand positions on her flute to Yukimaru who simply watched, rapt at attention.

He smiled at the sight before Tayuya's hair swayed to the right, revealing the stain of a mark on her neck before swishing back over to cover it. He sighed to himself, reviewing the plan he had been working over in his mind since leaving the Land of Hot Water. He was fairly confident in himself and his skills, as was Tayuya; even so, he didn't want to do anything to hurt her and was constantly checking these things over in his mind to make sure he made no mistakes whatsoever.

When he had said Orochimaru's curse mark was a work of genius he hadn't been exaggerating. The man had layered the seal over itself to try and hide many of the functions, not expecting anybody to go through the rigorous process of separating it out into its base components. To actually pull apart a seal that had been layered was without a doubt a painful process if not done over weeks or possibly months. Luckily Naruto was under no such restrictions with Sasuke. Now that he had a better understanding of what he was dealing with he could replicate the process on Tayuya painlessly, at least he hoped as much.

Naruto barely noticed as they passed through the gates into Kumo, far too lost inside his own head to notice the change in scenery. Tayuya was watching him from the corner of her eye even as she spoke to Yukimaru, noting the way he seemed absent and distracted. She sighed internally, knowing that he was worrying about her and was going over what he would still have to do in his head. She appreciated that he wanted to help her but she had sort of missed him over the past few days, the closest the two had gotten was when they slept, other than that he would keep to himself at the back of the group, only really speaking to Yukimaru out of politeness.

The group wound their way through the mountainous paths and bridges that kept Kumo connected. Surprisingly none of them received any strange looks or glances; then again, to a people who have had to bear countless attacks from the Hachibi a group of strange looking travellers wasn't anything to talk about. A few seemed to recognise Naruto and Fuu as they passed, giving friendly waves that only the mint-haired Jinchuuriki returned. Tayuya wasn't the only one worrying about the way Naruto was behaving and Fuu could only hope he would return to normal after he had fixed Tayuya's seal.

After another few minutes of trudging through the winding paths of the village the group entered the Raikage tower. They waited patiently while Naruto informed the secretary why they were here; the woman recognised Naruto and promptly went to see if the Raikage was busy. When she came back and said that he was free for the next few minutes the group quickly made their way over to his simple inscribed door before politely knocking.

"Yeah, come in!" Naruto entered first, drawing a smile from the large Kage and his equally large companion who just happened to be taking a break from training to visit his brother.

"Yo, if it ain't lil' nine. I hope you've been doing fine. I gotta go tell little miss two, she'll be excited to see you too Fuu!" Naruto smiled warmly for the first time in a few days as he fist bumped with Bee, enjoying the brief nostalgia the man's raps gave him.

"It's great to see you too Bee-sensei, there's someone I want you to meet." Naruto put a hand on Tayuya's shoulder and moved her forward a bit so that Bee and the Raikage could see her better. Tayuya, not a naturally vain person, suddenly found herself very self conscious and began to twiddle the ends of her long hair nervously. Bee appraised the girl quickly, smiling as he took in Naruto's girlfriend; A did likewise but with a bit more subtlety.

"Allow me to introduce myself Tayuya, I'm Killer Bee but I bet you heard of me, yeah!" Tayuya just gazed at him for a moment, the whole room going quite as they waited for her verdict. Gently she leant across until her lips were right by Naruto's ear and whispered softly.

"Does he always talk like that?" Naruto nodded with a small shrug, not really sure what Tayuya was talking about; he enjoyed the way Bee talked. In a way it always reminded him that despite the dangerous and serious times they lived in, there was always time for fun and enjoyment of life. Towards the end of Naruto's stay in Kumo the first time he had told bee exactly this; the large man had solemnly taken off his shades, knelt down to Naruto's level and given him a warm and genuine hug. Bee had thanked Naruto that day without a single rhyme, just honest, grateful words.

"Right then, I'm out of here." Without further ado Tayuya bowed respectfully towards the Raikage, an unexpected action in itself, before quickly spinning on a heel and walking straight out of the office. Everybody just turned to watch her leave, noting the slightly curious expression on Mabui's face as the redhead passed her. Finally everybody turned and stared at Bee; the man seemed to have gained a small raincloud over his head as he hung his arms limply, muttering about people not understanding him and his raps. After a nervous chuckle broke the tension the group returned to business with the attention turning to Naruto.

"Well Naruto, while it is always nice and... interesting to have you visit..." At that point Naruto received a strange look from Guren which he didn't return "...I must ask why you have come to Kumo with this group, two of which are known subordinates of Orochimaru himself." Naruto chuckled nervously, although his expression wasn't nearly as nervous as Guren's. While she was a kunoichi confident in her own abilities, she couldn't take on the Raikage, his personal guards, Kumo's ANBU, their two jinchuuriki and all their shinobi, at least without a few scratches.

"I can explain that." A simply leant back in his custom leather chair designed for his large bulk, waiting for him to do just that.

* * *

Naruto moved ahead of the group, letting them know that he was going to look for Tayuya. They had gained a shinobi escort courtesy of the Raikage, purely to keep an eye on the former sound ninja. Guren had said she understood completely and had she been in the Raikage's place she would have made a similar call. Naruto of course was well known throughout Kumo so was given some leeway in that regard so he left the others with their 'escort' and moved off to look for Tayuya.

He might have said he located her through his tracking skills but honestly he had placed a seal on her a long time ago that let him find her anywhere, it was incredibly useful. Of course he simply could have used his Fujin no Iki to find her instantly but for some reason it unnerved a lot of the Kumo-nin when he did that. So instead he had to walk through a few streets, letting the seal on his arm tug him in the right direction before he ducked under the flaps into a small ramen stand.

He sat down on the stool next to Tayuya, the girl not showing him any notice as he did so. He waved a hand to the owner of the stall, ordering a miso ramen before letting him get back to his other customers. It was a curious thing but Naruto had never tasted ramen before, there was no specific reason but between moving around and training he never really had the chance before. He waited patiently for his food to arrive as he swivelled on the seat to look at Tayuya. She hadn't moved since he had arrived; content to simply stare into the bowl of steaming broth and noodles in front of her.

"Why'd you run out back there?" He saw Tayuya's shoulders shake a little as she chuckled silently before turning around herself letting Naruto's blue eyes connect with her green ones.

"Oh, so now you suddenly care what I do?" Naruto frowned, wondering where this came from as he tried to pry the answer from Tayuya's eyes alone, unsuccessfully.

"What are you talking about Tayuya?" He laid his hand atop hers which was planted on the stall's counter and thankfully she didn't pull away like he had feared she might. His confused gaze was met with a defiant and slightly hurt expression from his girlfriend.

"You now damn well what I'm talking about, you haven't said three words to me in the last few days!" Naruto let his head droop, knowing that she was right; he had been reclusive recently, but it was only because he cared for her. "I mean damn Shithead; I thought we could tell each other anything." Naruto was about to speak but he couldn't find his voice for some reason, like a part of him was telling himself to just take Tayuya's verbal beating.

"Don't shut me out of your life Naruto, if there's something wrong fucking talk about it!" She drew a few irritated stares from the other patrons of the stall but couldn't have cared less at this point. Like Naruto she found herself under the influence of a little voice in her mind that wouldn't let her stop, the floodgates were already open. "I get that you worry about me, I get that you only want to help me with this fucking curse mark but listen to me very closely when I tell you this." She pulled his shirt so that he had no choice but to look directly into her emerald orbs.

"I would bare this damn mark for the rest of my fucking life if it meant I wouldn't have to live without you." A few of the glares from the other customers turned into warm smiles as they took in the somewhat romantic speech. Naruto on the other hand could only stare at his girlfriend, unable to think of anything intelligent to reply with.

"Tayuya, I-" Tayuya firmly placed a hand over his mouth, even as the stall-owner placed his order of Ramen down on the counter. It quickly went forgotten by the blonde shinobi as he was unable to direct his attention away from his girlfriend.

"No Naruto, this is important and hard to say so just shut up." Naruto nodded with his eyes wide from behind her hand. In any other situation she would have found it endearing but she was too serious for that right now. "I don't want you to ever abandon me like that again Naruto because I lo-" Tayuya finally seemed to hesitate as her eyes flickered down to the counter. However her mind flashed back two years to when she had been unable to talk to this very boy about her emotions and all the trouble it caused her; with new confidence she looked back up, straight into Naruto's eyes.

"Because I love you." Finally she allowed her hand to drop away from Naruto's mouth, not that the blonde could say anything at that moment anyway, he was far too shocked. Tayuya couldn't look at him in the face anymore having become too embarrassed and frightened, yes frightened. She worried; this was the very first time she had truly and utterly opened her heart, to anybody, and she was scared to the core. Scared that Naruto wouldn't return her feelings, scared that her dreams would be crushed, scared that-

Her train of thought was abruptly, and thankfully cut off as she felt a pair of warm hands gently clasp her cheeks, guiding her face up until she was back to looking at Naruto's cerulean eyes. She had a brief moment to notice the tears that had gathered in the corner of his eyes before his face came forward and caught her own in a tender and gentle kiss. Tayuya naturally melted into the contact, her fears evaporating as all she could feel were Naruto's lips pressing against her own. There was no competition, no battle for dominance, just two people trying to accurately express how they felt to one another without words.

"Tayuya, I love you too, more than anything I thought possible, I love you so much." She didn't let him speak any more as she initiated the kiss this time, drawing it out so that she could just feel him against her more. If she wasn't so caught up in the moment she might have noticed tears of her own slowly trickle down her cheeks after hearing his reply. Her heart felt lighter, her body felt warmer and a pain that she didn't even know she had been bearing her whole life suddenly felt less intense. Naruto finally broke their kiss, only to replace it with a hug as he wrapped her up as tightly as he could, burying his face into her loose hair.

"I'm sorry Tayuya-chan, I'll never leave you again. I'll never let anything hurt you again, not even me." All Tayuya could do was smile, she literally couldn't have stopped it even if she wanted to; it just seemed the most natural thing to do. After a minute caught in each other's embrace they finally noticed that they had become quite the spectacle for the other stall-goers. The women watching had hearts in their eyes as they took in the scene while the men were trying to hide their blushes, unable to admit how touching it had all been.

"What are you fuckers looking at? Never seen a girl fucking bare her soul before?" Naruto could only laugh as he wiped away the tears; Tayuya knew just how to ruin any perfect moment, not that he would change it for the world. Of course the now embarrassed patrons quickly returned to what they had been doing, some of them leaving with a large blush over their faces. Tayuya turned back to Naruto, a warm smile set on her face as she pulled him up by the hand, leading him away from the stall in no particular direction. Naruto remembered to throw down some money on the counter, even though he hadn't managed to touch his bowl of Ramen.

"You know I still meant what I said Tayuya, I will get that seal off of you, but I won't ignore you anymore." Tayuya smiled as she hugged his arm while they walked, nuzzling into his soft coat with her cheek as she did so.

"I know you will Shithead, I know you were just worried about me and wanted to make sure you got everything right." Naruto smiled as he looked down at her, finding the interaction so adorable he almost acted like some teenage tourist girl shouting 'kawaii'.

"So you're still going to call me Shithead?" Tayuya's smile brightened, even if it was only because it became slightly more devilish.

"Of course, why would I call you anything else?"

* * *

"Are you fucking done yet?" Tayuya had been sitting in the chair for what felt like hours now, but was probably closer to ten or twenty minutes. Naruto had been examining her seal to determine if there were any differences between it and Sasuke's so there wouldn't be any complications. Right now she was just leaning over to one side while Naruto looked at her seal, taking notes where necessary.

"Huh what? Yeah, I was done like five minutes ago." Tayuya looked up and around to see that Naruto wasn't anywhere near her, instead he was on the other side of the room, furiously going over his notes and calculations. Tayuya's eye twitched a little seeing him completely forget about her.

"Hey, what the fuck!" Naruto looked up, the end of his ink brush in his mouth as he concentrated on the work he was doing.

"What?" Tayuya just sighed, knowing that Naruto was far too absorbed at this point to even try and realise what he had done wrong. Instead she just walked over, slapped him over the back of the head for good measure and sat down on his lap. She leant back into his chest even as he looked around her, still intent on the notes in the scroll in front of him. Tayuya looked it over, nothing but a bunch of lines and squiggles to her but she had seen firsthand what they were capable of, the Fuijin no iki as case and point.

"So what are you doing now?" Normally Tayuya wasn't really all that interested in sealing, it was too difficult for her, far too much maths and patience involved for her liking. However seeing Naruto so riveted on one thing, one thing that wasn't her; it was enough to pique her curiosity a little.

"I'm looking over the chakra converter array on the seal." When he saw Tayuya's blank look he sighed, smiling as he leant back into the chair, wrapping his arms around her like a grandfather preparing to tell a grandchild a story. "Basically it's a series of seals that convert one form of chakra into another, like your spiritual energy into physical." Tayuya still looked blank before staring at the mass of circles and squiggles on the page, trying to comprehend how they did that.

"I didn't know you could do something like that." Naruto chuckled and shrugged.

"Yeah, neither did I but it's the only explanation I can find for the array." Tayuya just nodded, gradually losing interest as she felt Naruto's body heat radiate through her, exciting her and pulling her mind onto more, distracting topics.

"So what kind of chakra does it convert?" Again, she wasn't really interested, more keeping the conversation alive for the hell of it; she found Naruto was much happier if she pretended to take interest in the things he enjoyed. It was besides the point that he would then return the favour tenfold but Naruto was just like that anyway.

"That's the funny thing, it took me ages to recognise but if I remember our academy days then it's nature chakra." Tayuya furrowed her brow, trying to think back to all those boring lessons with Baki-sensei where he would try and drill this stuff into her head, mostly unsuccessfully.

"I thought humans couldn't use senjutsu without special training." Naruto's smile positively glowed as he felt Tayuya really contribute to the conversation; he loved it when she took an interest.

"That's the part that makes the seal so brilliant; the user doesn't use the nature chakra, the seal converts it into regular chakra except it's a hurried job so it becomes more potent. That, coupled with the enzyme I told you about earlier which I believe is responsible for the transformation, is the reason the seal degrades the user over time. Actually, if Orochimaru had just tweaked it a bit more he could have been giving his followers a much less potent dose of chakra but kept the seal completely safe." Tayuya looked at him strangely.

"What about the enzyme?" Naruto waved his hand towards one side of the scroll where complicated notations of specific chemical formulae littered the page.

"There's nothing inherently dangerous about the enzyme, in fact it's a completely natural compound, probably some kind of extract from a kekkei genkai user. The problem is that the untempered nature chakra doesn't react well with it when the transformation is triggered. If I and all of those medical scrolls I've been reading are right it's the cause for the skin discolouration and changes in the sclera." Tayuya was actually rather interested in this now, somehow Naruto had a way of making a dull topic seem relatable; or maybe it was because he seemed to be hinting toward something.

"What are you getting at Naruto?" She knew if she called him shithead it would only distract him from the conversation. Naruto seemed to take a deep breath before smiling kindly down at her.

"I'm saying that we wouldn't have to remove your seal; I could alter it, make it better and less damaging." He waited a few moments as silence descended over the room. "But, you know, I can still get rid of it if you-" Tayuya stopped him by pressing her hand up against his lips, staring him dead in the eye.

"And it would be safe, no complications?" Naruto chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, if I could get a hold of some of that enzyme I might put one on myself." Tayuya just maintained her level stare, not looking away from Naruto's eyes until he sighed and pulled her in closer. "I'm not a medic Tayuya, there could always be problems, but I assure you I would never attempt this if I ever thought it would hurt you. I made sure to isolate the part of the seal that stops your body from violently rejecting the enzyme, probably what caused the one in ten death rates for Orochimaru, that way I can make sure I don't accidently get rid of it."

Tayuya leaned back into Naruto's chest, staring out of the single window in the room that looked over the cloud-covered mountains of Kumo. She thought about it for a while, considering everything; on the one hand the seal would always be a reminder of what Orochimaru did to her, on the other, it would be amazing to use it against him. She could imagine the look on his face if Naruto created a seal better than his own, he'd be furious. Plus she could imagine the edge it would give her in a fight; she had seen what Sasuke could do, even if Naruto had kicked his ass.

"Okay." Her voice was quiet and meek, still rather unsure of herself.

"Tayuya, are you sure I mean-" She stopped Naruto from talking again, this time with a quick peck on his lips.

"I'm sure, I trust you Naruto, with my life." Naruto was speechless for a few moments before he smiled warmly and pulled Tayuya in closer. They shared the chair a while, just enjoying the company of the other while talking about nothing in particular. Both however were thinking about the days to come and what this new change would bring; it was only a matter of time now before Naruto felt he was ready.

* * *

Tayuya shivered in the cold, spacious room; she supposed that was only natural for what was essentially a dungeon beneath the Raikage tower. Unfortunately it was the only room that met Naruto's exact specifications, not that Tayuya was reluctant because of that. Like Naruto she was nervous and if Naruto felt that something was necessary for this to go right then she wasn't going to argue, even if it felt like her teeth were going to break from chattering. She envied Naruto for his natural invulnerability to cold; she couldn't even go over and use him to warm up or she might break his concentration as he went about the room, drawing out the seals.

She had seen him draw them before, but never this slowly and carefully, and never this complicated. Hundreds upon hundreds of Kanji littered the floor, sometimes in concentric circles, other times in swirls or wavy lines. After half an hour of this though, it was blatantly obvious that the focal point was the very centre of the room, where Tayuya supposed she would be lying. She didn't really fancy the idea of lying down on the cold concrete floor but she supposed if it was necessary she could bear it. At that point Naruto got up, stretching his back after crouching down for so long and walked over.

"Umm, this is a little awkward but you have to take your clothes off." Tayuya just stared at Naruto like he had grown a second head.

"Are you fucking serious? It's freezing in here!" Naruto just looked around curiously; it shouldn't have surprised her that he hadn't even noticed. Instantly she felt the area around them warm up as Naruto began to release a warming aura of weak chakra, just enough to ward off the chill. Tayuya simply sighed, he had the worst timing sometimes. "Uggh, fine, let's just get this over with." She walked over into the centre of the room, careful not to disturb any of the carefully placed drawings on the floor while stripping.

"Oh uhh you don't have to..." Naruto just watched as Tayuya unclipped her bra before shimmying out of the rest of her underwear.

"What was that Shithead?" Naruto just kept staring at her in a daze, unable to take his eyes of her perfect form.

"Uhh, nothing." Tayuya started at him oddly before shrugging and carefully lying down in the area indicated by the lack of Kanji in a vaguely human-shaped space. Naruto managed to shake himself of his daze before smiling brightly and walking over, already prepping his ink brush. He was particularly proud of his brush; it had seals with copious amounts of ink sealed inside that would slowly release onto the brush itself. The actual brush was a single strand of very firm and very durable hair which meant he could be very precise and accurate with his Fuinjutsu and create very small seals.

He set to work on Tayuya's body, carefully inking out the required patterns and seals across her naked body. She would giggle occasionally from the feel of the brush moving across her bare skin but she was good and didn't move. Naruto was also good for his part, not letting himself get distracted by Tayuya's tantalizing flesh laid bare in front of him. In no time at all, but still too much for Tayuya's liking, he was finished and looked down at her with a slight blush.

"Uhh, I didn't want to mention this but... I need to bite you." Tayuya raised an eyebrow but didn't move, mostly because she wouldn't dare by this point.

"I didn't realise you were into the kinky stuff." Naruto just chuckled sheepishly before vaguely pointing to where the faintest of marks still lay from Orochimaru's original placing of the seal.

"It's to trigger an inflammatory response and get your adrenaline moving in the area to evenly disperse the enzyme around your body. That suppression seal has kept it all pent up and if I released it all in one area too suddenly it might caused a mutation, or worse." Tayuya didn't particularly fancy finding out what worse was but she also didn't really fancy getting bitten.

"Isn't there another way?" Naruto smiled and shrugged.

"I could slap you." Tayuya scowled before sighing deeply and letting her head slump back softly to the floor.

"Fine, but if I feel you sucking then it's a stake through the heart for you." Naruto laughed warmly before cracking his knuckles and stretching out his neck, letting a large grin wash over his features.

"Let's do this." He concentrated chakra to his hand, letting it build up in his finger tips before blue fire burst out over each digit. He carefully placed it over Tayuya's seal before taking a deep breath and twisting harshly, simultaneously unlocking it and activating all the seals he had set up in the room. Immediately, like a flood, the Kanji rushed across the room, winding round and round like they were caught in a whirlpool towards the seal that was now glowing a dangerous red.

Naruto waited until the exact moment when the seals unlocked the enzyme from spreading into Tayuya's system before leaning down and swiftly biting into her neck. He was careful to place his canines above the marks Orochimaru made so that she wouldn't get any new scars. Tayuya was already squirming from the strange sensation the procedure was giving her, it wasn't unpleasant or painful just, strange. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder before something warm began spreading through her body sending pleasure through her body.

Naruto sat up, watching the small amount of blood trickle away from the two small bite marks he had made. He frowned at the taste in his mouth, wondering what Anko saw in tasting blood. It wasn't exactly terrible but it wasn't really all that good either, he considered asking her about it but didn't much think he would like the answer. That, and it would start to bring up a lot of questions about why he had drank blood which would in turn lead to teasing.

He looked down again to see the last of the seals safely enter the three tomoe before watching, astonished, as it slowly shifted and became a small spiral. He hadn't foreseen the design of the seal itself changing but for some reason he felt it was an improvement. He figured it was because of his name, Uzumaki meant Whirlpool after all and it briefly made him consider making this his trademark for seals if he found out why it happened.

Once the sealing process was finished Tayuya was left panting and breathless, he skin was flush and had a fine sheen of sweat that caught the light, making her shine slightly. Naruto helped her up into a sitting position as it was quite obvious Tayuya was fairly incapable of moving at the moment. She was looking around the room with lidded eyes until they came to rest on Naruto's concerned face. He had seen her writhing on the floor but had mistaken it for pain; he had been sure that the procedure wouldn't be painful, except for the biting.

"How do you feel?" Tayuya slowly brought a weak arm up and touched it to the new design on her neck, rubbing her fingers over the skin like she had never felt it before. She couldn't believe it but that dull aching throb she had to put up with for the last two years was finally gone. The realisation struck her hard and after a few blinks to make absolutely sure this wasn't all a dream she turned around and launched herself at Naruto, toppling him to the floor in a mighty hug.

"Amazing, better than amazing, fantastic!" He eyes were sparkling and it brought a smile to Naruto's face as he helped her up. At that point both of them realised Tayuya was still quite naked so Naruto quickly ran over and got her clothes while Tayuya noticed the small sealing array that was still on the floor. Fearing that something might have gone wrong with the process she pointed it out to Naruto when he came back.

"What's that?" Naruto just smiled devilishly, looking at the small seal with a hint of malice.

"The fragment of Orochimaru's soul had to go somewhere." Tayuya shivered at the sight of Naruto's evil look, it didn't fit his face at all and she could only imagine what he had done to Orochimaru's soul as she looked at the seemingly harmless set of squiggles on the floor.

* * *

Orochimaru was still reeling from the defeat of Sasuke, mostly due to the condition the Kyuubi container had left him it. He had gone away from the base for a few days to deal with some troublesome Konoha shinobi who were prying a bit too close and he had come back to a half destroyed base and an even more wrecked Uchiha. Not only that but after he had calmed down he found out somebody had put a blocking seal over Sasuke's curse mark, a damn good one too.

It was all enough that he had to vent his anger out on a few subordinates, suffice to say that the echoes of screams would be filtering through the base for a few days. Currently he was pensively sitting in a large throne-like chair, mulling over everything that had gone wrong and what he would have to do to fix it when a blinding pain ripped through him. It was like when the old man had first sealed his arms away, the blind numbing pain tore through his body but was most intense right behind his eyes. He had no way to be sure as he writhed on the floor but he just knew who was responsible for this.

"Curse you Uzumaki!" Kabuto rushed into the room a few seconds later, confused at the sight he had walked in on. Orochimaru was unconscious on the floor, blood was streaming from his eyes like tears and embarrassingly the medic noticed that the snake sannin had soiled himself from the pain.


	50. Chapter 50

"Yes yes Naruto, for the last time I understand; two Suna shinobi will be coming to pick up three of your companions in three days time." Naruto nodded, just making sure that the Raikage understood him.

"So your ninja won't attack them or try to harass them?" The Raikage sighed; why was it that any conversation with the blonde jinchuuriki in front of him seemed to drag on endlessly?

"You know Naruto, Suna and Kumo _are _allies now, we don't just attack our allies without provocation." Naruto raised a brow, smirking as he recalled some things he had learned during his world studies.

"So what was that incident with the Hyuuga clan a few years ago?" The Raikage coughed, blinking a few times at the unpredictable ninja in front of him.

"Yes well, that was more than a _few _years ago and was under my father's rule as Raikage. I assure you that no such thing will happen as long as I'm in charge." Naruto just smiled and nodded, he was only teasing the man after all. It always amused him that he could so easily get under the intimidating Raikage's skin; even if he was one of the few he actually showed verbal respect to. However that was really more out of fear of the man's Iron Claw technique; he shuddered just thinking about it.

"That's alright Raikage-sama, just worried about my friends is all." The Raikage relaxed back into his comfortable chair and nodded with an uncharacteristic smile. When he was alone with Naruto, who wouldn't dare breathe a word of the large man's soft side, he could relax and be the caring brother he was to Bee.

"Understandable Naruto, don't worry. When Guren, Yukimaru, and Gozu's escorts arrive they will be welcomed in." Naruto smiled warmly and nodded before deciding to turn to lighter news.

"So I heard Bee-sensei got-" Both were suddenly interrupted as an ANBU member burst into the room, quite literally as he was blown through the wall of the Raikage's office. Both A and Naruto stared incredulously at the man's crumpled form before Naruto rushed over, making sure he was okay. He had left a fairly large dent in the wall and must have a few cracked ribs but otherwise he was okay.

"R-Raikage-sama, it's..." The poor ANBU member had to stop to cough as his body shook from exertion "...it's Akatsuki; they went after Yugito-senpai." Both A and Naruto's eyes narrowed as they heard the organisations name; Naruto carefully laid the man's head down, now unconscious, and stood back up. He only knew of one member of Akatsuki that would be this blatant about their arrival; Hidan. Before the Raikage could even put up a hand to stop him Naruto had jumped out of the hole in the wall, making a beeline for where he knew Tayuya would be.

* * *

Yugito raced through the narrow tunnel of the catacomb, just barely staying ahead of her pursuers. She glanced behind her only to see the glint of red steel which forced her feet to naturally quicken their pace. Reaching a more open area where water peacefully trickled through she leapt to the side, narrowly dodging the head of the tri-bladed scythe before it smashed into the floor. Her body gracefully arced through the air before landing on the surface of the water, skidding back. She stared at the scythe, still embedded in the floor of the tunnel, glinting in the weak light as the cable it was attached to slowly reeled in, signifying the approach of its master.

Yugito watched, masking her panic as best she could, as two figures slowly emerged out of the darkness in the tunnel, walking like they had all the time in the world. The first, a smirking man with greasy slicked-back silver hair, was connected to the scythe by a cable that disappeared into the sleeve of his robe. He wore it open at the front to reveal his bare chest. Yugito knew from what Naruto and Tayuya told her that this was the Akatsuki member known as Hidan.

The second, a more stoic and mysterious man with a towering presence, had the strangest eyes Yugito had ever seen. The sclera seemed naturally red with dark green irises and no pupils. He wore a hood and face mask that managed to cover most of his face and his robe, identical to that of his partner, was equally concealing. This was Kakuzu, a man who had gone toe to toe with the first Hokage himself and survived.

"Let's just finish this." His voice was deep and gravely, fitting the intimidating persona his towering build gave.

"Not just yet." Hidan on the other hand had a much more irritating, overconfident voice, matching his generally vain appearance. He pulled out a strange amulet, a circle with a triangle inside, letting it turn hypnotically in his hands. "Before that, you know I have another with whom I must confer." He smiled as he held the dull metal amulet up to his face, causing his partner to look around at him.

"You can be such a pain in the neck sometimes." Kakuzu was obviously used to these situations; it didn't make him any happier about it though.

"It's a pain for me too you know but the laws are very strict about this." Yugito was almost shocked as the man brought the pendant up to his face in his closed hands, almost making it look like he was praying. Instead she simply smirked, the two had walked right in here without a second thought with no regard to the fact she had planned it all along.

"You idiots, you think you have me trapped, well I'm the one who's trapped you!" She clasped her hands together and focused her chakra. Immediately everybody in the room heard the hissing as multiple explosive tags were set off. They exploded, showering debris and rocks through the area, sealing off all the tunnels in or out of the hall.

"Well, would you look at that? We walked into a trap Kakuzu." His partner just looked around, completely ignoring the tensed Yugito.

"No matter, this makes thing even easier." Hidan looked equally confident, although he did seem slightly agitated.

"This whole mission just goes against my beliefs, there's a rule in Jashinism preventing us from leaving survivors. To resist destroying you is a huge struggle for me; come on, why don't you just surrender and come with us?" Yugito looked at him like he was crazy, an increasingly likely conclusion given the evidence. She had enough of this, she wasn't here to negotiate with Akatsuki, she was here to make sure these two would never hurt anybody again.

She dropped down to the surface of the water on all fours, the winds and waters picking up and spinning around her in a small tornado as all her internal energy was released outwards. She could already feel the familiar blue flames licking at her body, just waiting to be released and given form. She was about to do just that, to unleash the power of her biju on these idiots but was rudely interrupted as the entire hall shook violently. Both Yugito and the Akatsuki members looked around in confusion as the tremor stopped, the dust settling from the ceiling.

They heard it again, a dulled muffled thump that caused the entire room to shudder, releasing more dust from the ceiling. It repeated again, louder and the room shook even more, a fine layer of debris now coating everything as it was disturbed. Now they could see cracks appear on the roof, spidering out more and more as the crashes continued. With one final ear-splitting crack the ceiling finally gave way under pressure, splitting open before showering the room in chunks of concrete and dirt.

Yugito coughed and tried to wave away the cloud of rubble obscuring her view, wondering if this was some kind of ploy. However when the smoke cleared enough she looked up, only to see the smirking face of one Naruto Uzumaki, flanked on both sides by Tayuya and Guren. All three quickly dropped into the cavernous hall as the last of the make-shift smoke screen cleared away revealing an irritated Kakuzu and an almost gleeful Hidan.

"Yes! Jashin-sama be praised! Now I can finally fulfill my religious duties and cause some chaos! I might have to capture that heathen over there but I have neither qualms nor restraints in killing all of you." Naruto looked back calmly; standing firm with his arms crossed over his chest, coat flapping in the breeze his entrance had created. Yugito, while annoyed that she had to be 'rescued' was gracious for the help, even if Naruto was now putting two jinchuuriki on the line instead of just her.

"Tayuya, Guren, Yugito, you deal with Kakuzu." He smiled viciously as his canines elongated subconsciously "I'll deal with Hidan." Hidan's gleeful smile didn't dissipate in the slightest; in fact he seemed even happier at this turn of events.

"That's right, come and fight Blondie; let me bask in your pain as I slowly draw each and every last breath out of your heathen body!" Naruto settled into a defensive taijutsu stance and made the universal sign for 'come get some'. Hidan screamed out in delight before fully retracting his special scythe and charging the calm jinchuuriki. Naruto dodged the first sloppy swing but his abilities in evasion were quickly put to the test as the Jashin follower madly swung the weapon without abandon.

While disorganised and unrefined, Hidan's attacks came with unparalleled ferocity and tenacity, giving them a chaotic elegance. Naruto was forced to dodge left, right and centre to avoid the unpredictable and often near-fatal swings. He knew that even one single cut or drop of blood would be his end and was beginning to regret letting Hidan initiate the fight. Even so, he held his own and like a blur of motion he weaved around every clumsy swing of the scythe, the red steel sometimes coming so close as to lightly skim his coat.

Hidan cried out in a mixture of glee and praise in a mad squeal after every other swing, basking in the joy of a fight, knowing that his opponent's end was coming at any moment. One slip, one wrong placing of their feet, one hesitant moment and it would be over; he had all the time in the world to wait. He brought the scythe up blindingly fast, screaming out as he did so and brought it crashing down to where he expected Naruto's head to be. In a flash of yellow Naruto vanished from view and as per usual Hidan simply swung his weapon in a long arc around his body.

Naruto narrowly ducked under the blow, finally managing to get inside the chaotic fanatic's guard, delivering a swift and efficient kick to the man's side with enough force to send him hurtling across the room. He crashed into the rubble blocking one of the exits, the boulders and debris not enough to arrest his momentum as he was sent crashing through into the adjoining corridor. Naruto sighed, knowing this wasn't the end for his unrelenting opponent and quickly dashed through the opening.

Kakuzu and the others had been silently observing the swift and shocking fight; Kakuzu was even mentally praising the young blonde, few people had ever lasted so long that close to Hidan. For now though he had other concerns to deal with, namely the three very angry looking women across the large hall from him. He sighed, wondering if he was truly getting paid enough to have to deal with such annoyances.

"Very well, we might as well get this started with, I want to get back and get my money." All three women snarled; each was very powerful in their own right and there was only one of him, he should be at least worried. Not particularly liking the man by this point Tayuya decided to kick things off; she unsealed her staff and twirled it once before firmly slamming in into the ground. The sharpened metal edge dug into the ground below them before she passed her lightning chakra through it.

The Bo staff acted as a conductor, vibrating more rapidly than the human eye can even follow. Immediately a wave of cracks appeared in the ground in front of her before blasting outwards, uprooting the floor and sending a powerful shockwave towards Kakuzu. Before it could even reach him large black vine-like tentacles burst forth from his back, appearing in front of him like a protective shield. The thick threads absorbed all the shock, leaving Kakuzu completely unharmed, Tayuya only smirked.

All three women jut watched as the Akatsuki member sank to his knees, clutching both hands to his head as he reeled. Tayuya had maintained her chakra through the staff; using the shockwave as a medium to transmit a very high frequency wave that would mess with most people's senses and in the case of some weaker opponents, knock them out. It was an effective and usually solid strategy that had helped her before so she was surprised when more of those black threads shot out of Kakuzu, digging deeply into the ground.

He stood up again, looking none the worse for wear as Tayuya realised what he had done to defeat her attack. The threads acted as a grounding device, passing the vibrations out of him and into the ground to be safely dispersed. Tayuya cursed at the effective and damnable tactic before Kakuzu was suddenly attacked from all sides by razor-sharp crystals. They sprouted from the ground like thorns, trying to skewer the cloaked figure from all angles. Kakuzu merely shattered them all with another wave of his threads, drawing a gasp from Guren who had never seen anybody destroy her crystals so easily.

She was so shocked that she was unprepared for the counterattack as Kakuzu launched her across the room with a swipe of his threads. The only thing stopping her bones from being shattered from the impact with the wall was her crystal armour. She groaned as she got up, the thin layer of rock-hard crystal may have saved her from the worst of the damage but the impact still left her a little rattled. It unnerved her to see an opponent who she could see was easily as powerful, if not more so, than Orochimaru; unnerved, and slightly frightened.

Yugito felt that it was her turn so channelling chakra into her hand she forced her fingernails to grow into razor-sharp blades, each as hard as diamond as they were reinforced with Matatabi's chakra. She rushed Kakuzu, feeling no need to resort to her full transformation seeing as she only had the one opponent now. She skilfully dodged the waves of threads aimed at her body, intent of sweeping her off her feet before incapacitating her.

She threw her body to the ground, sliding across the water on her knees with her back pressed to the ground as she evaded a strong blow that would have cracked a few ribs. Immediately after she bent her body back until she was able to use her hands to launch herself into the air, twisting around yet another attack before using it to propel herself forward. Her hands were held out in front of her, fingernails ready to tear into the man willing to attack her home and herself just because of what, or who she carried within her.

She was a few feet away from the man who seemed no more perturbed than when he was joined by Hidan before his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. That was all the warning Yugito got before she saw something shift beneath his robes and his hands came up into a single hand sign the jinchuuriki didn't recognise.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage." The air around Kakuzu seemed to visibly shudder for a moment before violently exploding outwards. It damaged everything in its path be it wall, floor, or unfortunately, Yugito herself. With bone-breaking force she was launched across the room, arcing up into the air with her hair trailing beneath her before crashing back down to the ground. She was saved as she saw Tayuya in the periphery of her vision plunge her hands into the ground. The floor seemed to ripple towards her landing zone and before she knew it she landed in a soft bed of loose earth, effectively cushioning her fall.

Kakuzu seemed unfazed that his attack had failed; instead everybody noticed something underneath his robes shift again while he maintained a perfect air of calm that only came with age and experience. Guren had recovered by now and was throwing countless crystal shuriken at Kakuzu, condensing them straight out of the air which glittered around her. Kakuzu stood firm, unwavering as barrage after barrage slowly ripped his cloak to shreds; he made no move to dodge, block or even move. Slowly, as more and more of his body was revealed Guren began to figure out he had some kind of protection around him like her crystal armour.

Tayuya on the other hand knew exactly what it was, Kakuzu's earth heart; as long as he had that heart in his chest he had a nearly unbreakable defensive layer covering his skin. While Guren was keeping Kakuzu occupied she quickly made her way over to Yugito, stopping the blond Jinchuuriki before she could attack again.

"It won't work; we need to hit him through the chest when he uses one of his other elemental hearts." Yugito looked at her strangely before remembering that the opponent they were fighting had multiple hearts, each interchangeable and granting him a different elemental affinity. Yugito nodded, turning her attention to where Kakuzu was finally growing irritated by the endless hail of razor-sharp crystals.

"Earth Style: Earth Spears" Guren's eyes widened before she nimbly jumped backwards, growing a crystal beneath her to propel herself away. She just lifted off the ground as a small field of spears made from the rock in the room all sprouted from the ground with the intent to skewer her. She was fast but not fast enough, one managed to skim her side; the only thing protecting her was the thin shield of crystal covering her body. It made a horrible screeching sound as it gouged out a visible trench in the transparent material.

Tayuya wasted no time in using that as a distraction, launching herself forward as she batted away the spears with her staff. The lightning in her staff easily overpowered the earthen poles, lighting being naturally dominant over earth. With an incredible show of balance she planted her staff down on the head of a spear just as it was emerging from the ground. She thrust down, using the extra momentum that gave her to soar into the air, twisting her body around more black threads that tried to flick her away.

She smirked as she saw something shift beneath Kakuzu's robe just as she approached. It was an unfortunate fact for Kakuzu that with age also came predictability and Tayuya had full intent on using that to her advantage.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthr-" Kakuzu's eyes widened for a split second as his body jerked violently; under his mask his mouth twisted into a pained snarl. He staggered away, looking behind him at Yugito, her blade-like fingernails covered in blood. He looked down at his chest as the last of his tattered robe fell away, revealing the patchwork stitching that made up his body. Blood poured from a large puncture wound straight through his chest as Kakuzu gasped out in pain.

Both Yugito and Guren looked on confidently, adamant that they had won. Yugito smirked, she had a fire affinity but she always made sure to learn outside her comfort zone. The hiding in water technique was brilliant to catch an unaware enemy off guard and an Akatsuki member was no exception having fallen for their trap. Tayuya was less confident; she had the pleasure of having witnessed Kakuzu fight before, this wouldn't be nearly enough to stop him. Sure enough when they looked over to his hunched over form they could see his shoulders shake lightly as he let out a low chuckle.

"Please little girls; you are a hundred years too young to defeat me." He stood up straight giving Yugito and Guren a full view as black threads covered his heart, replacing it with one from the masks, now visible, on his back. "But it does seem I need to start getting serious." Tayuya saw the man's skin change ever so slightly as it darkened, indicating it was the earth heart he was now using. She knew he would have worked out what they were trying to do and would now fight more intelligently; this just became a lot harder.

* * *

Hidan's high pitched screams as he swung his scythe madly were really grating on Naruto's ears as he continued to swiftly dodge every potential blow. If Hidan was upset or aggravated by Naruto's continued avoidance of his weapon he showed no sign of it. Instead the man just maintained a psychotic grin as he gleefully continued to twirl in his own chaotic dance of destruction. Naruto tried to get back and get some distance between him and his opponent but Hidan simply let loose with his scythe, sending it flying on its metal tether which Naruto was beginning to suspect he could control with chakra.

The scythe itself seemed unbreakable, the blonde had already tried to snap it with a Rasengan but it was fruitless. Likewise any blows that Naruto did manage to get in were simply shrugged off like they were nothing. Hidan was tough; at first Naruto had difficulty believing Tayuya about the man's immortality but after a few minutes fighting him he lost all doubts. The man could ignore kunai cuts like they were bug bites, powering through with a smile or a demented shriek of joy. If anything Hidan seemed to derive some kind of sick pleasure every time he was hurt.

Still, Naruto couldn't afford to get sloppy. Hidan didn't tire, Naruto would eventually and then he would make a mistake. The red steel of the scythe glinted in anticipation of the blonde's blood, just one drop and Hidan could end it all. Naruto knew all about the self-harm ritual of the Jashin follower, he would take pleasure in inflicting pain to both himself and his victim until he ended it with a stab through the heart. Naruto had a plan but he didn't foresee fighting Hidan in such a confined place, he needed somewhere more open.

The next chance he got Naruto kicked Hidan with as much power as he could muster. The Akatsuki member was sent flying back through the corridor they had been fighting in, sailing out into the main hall as Naruto followed suit. He saw the girls fending off Kakuzu but he couldn't step in to help, at least not yet, instead he used their fight to his advantage as a plan formed in his mind on the fly. Racing over Hidan's temporarily downed body he used Kakuzu's distracted state to launch himself over the man.

He was forced to dodge a few errant tentacles which reminded him of evading Gaara's sand but he did touch down behind the former Taki shinobi. In a flurry of movement he firmly stuck a tag on Kakuzu's back, the intricate seal glowing briefly. There was a small explosion of smoke but when it cleared Kakuzu was nowhere in sight, instead there stood two Narutos. The original quickly mustered all the strength he could and leapt onto the wall, running up until he was lost in the shadows.

Kakuzu was mildly surprised by the manoeuvre and only saw the shadow bearing down on him when it as too late. In a flash of red steel a large bloody gash appeared across Kakuzu's chest before Hidan jumped back with a mirthful smile.

"It's finally over brat, you thought you could evade me but no one can escape Jashin-sama!" Hidan, temporarily transformed into Naruto, just widened his eyes as he realised what was going on.

"Hidan you moron wait!" But it was too late; the silver haired man licked the trickling blood off the scythe, drinking it down as he prepared himself for the ritual that had become second nature to him now. With glee he traced out the symbol of his religion into the ground below him from what blood was falling from his own body, his skin already changing. All over, his body became black as bone-like decals adorned his face and what you could see of his arms and chest.

He smiled gleefully, too lost in the joy of his sacrifice to listen to the rest of his companion's pleas. With sadistic pleasure he ran his sacrificial blade across the skin of his arms, smiling evilly as similar wounds appeared on Kakuzu's transformed body. Years of life and the Earth Grudge Fear Jutsu had numbed the ancient Taki shinobi to pain and he showed no outwards sign of being affected. This seemed to anger Hidan greatly; he wanted to hear the cries of his victim ring out through the hall.

"You aren't a worthy sacrifice, not even a single scream!" Without much more debate he plunged the knife into his heart as Kakuzu doubled over, feeling his precious organ burst inside his own body. Hidan smirked at seeing his opponent finally die after putting up a valiant attempt, at least until the original Naruto dropped down from the ceiling. The second member of the zombie-combo watched in irritation as the Naruto he had 'killed' transformed back into Kakuzu. He pointed an accusatory finger at Naruto, murder in his eyes.

"You tricked me punk." Naruto smirked at how angry the man had gotten.

"It wasn't all that hard really." A large tick mark appeared on Hidan's forehead as he once again charged at Naruto, a bloodcurdling scream of anger and slight glee once again emerging from his throat. Naruto simply dodged the clumsy attack, firmly punching Hidan in the back, sending the man through one of the blocked off passages, again. Naruto sighed; despite the danger Hidan posed he really wasn't all that much of a fighter once you knew what to look out for. Wearily he followed the small trail of destruction his body had created, now intent on actually finishing this.

* * *

Guren and Yugito were now much more wary of Kakuzu, despite his seemingly mortal wound. Sure enough the hole in his chest closed over, a new heart moving to replace its destroyed comrade, although they couldn't be sure which. Kakuzu, far from his usual calm and collected demeanour, was now highly agitated. The loss of his wind heart he could deal with, those were a dime a dozen in Wind Country but a decent earth heart was difficult for him to get. Usually to subdue a powerful earth affinity shinobi you needed to use lightning techniques, those didn't generally leave much to scavenge from.

"Hidan you imbecile." It was a growl more than a sentence as he looked around at his three opponents, with only three hearts left he had to be careful. Quickly devising a strategy from years of experience in the battlefield He placed his hands in a seal.

"Water Style: Water Shockwave" Water seemed to converge out of thin air, joining the tepid water already flowing through the large hall. It rose up in a large wave before coming crashing down on the three women, forcing them to dodge out of the way. Of course Kakuzu knew that the attack wouldn't be nearly enough to deal with his opponents but it did give him some time as they dodged out of its way. Using that to his advantage he hunched over his two remaining masks separated from his body, gaining their own life with the black threads that composed his body.

After the threads writhed around for a moment they began to take on forms with the masks acting as heads. One became a demonic, twisted visage that faintly resembled a tiger while the other grew tall with spikes emerging from its shoulders. Both looked dangerous, both looked vicious and both were staring straight at their intended targets. As the three women landed from dodging the water attack Tayuya and Guren gulped as they saw the strange humanoid creatures staring at them.

There was a single second of perfect silence as everybody in the room just looked at one another, then, on some unspoken signal it all began. Simultaneously the two black creatures charged down Tayuya and Guren, the tall one aiming for the latter and the tiger-like one the former. Kakuzu on the other hand immediately turned his attention to Yugito who all of a sudden felt very alone with the imposing man staring her down with his dispassionate green and red eyes. She didn't want him to have the first move so she immediately formed a series of rapid and complex hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullets" Yugito focused her chakra with immense control as it took on the appearance of an enormous dragon composed entirely of bright white flames. It reared its head and roared, the room shuddering from the noise while Kakuzu remained unimpressed. The dragon immediately began spitting out intense flames the same colour as its body, all of them on a collision course with Kakuzu's body.

"Water Style: Great Encampment Wall" From the water surrounding Kakuzu and the extra he had added with his last technique a thick wall of water erupted all around the Taki shinobi. When the two jutsu collided there was a great explosion that once again rocked the large room, steam being released from the heat of the flames. Despite the power of Yugito's technique she could clearly see Kakuzu standing perfectly still, not having moved at all. She gulped, knowing that was the most powerful jutsu in her arsenal.

Kakuzu just smiled.


	51. Chapter 51

Naruto managed to land another strong blow on Hidan's chest, for all the good it did him. The silver-haired man flew across the room the two had found themselves in, Naruto didn't know where by this point. Their fight had been so mobile that Naruto had completely lost track of where he was or even the way back to the main hall. Right now they were in a medium-sized room with what was once a smooth polished floor, bringing to question what this place used to be used for. Now however it was covered in dust and crumbling masonry from the neglected and old walls.

Hidan picked himself out of the crater he had been thrown into; he had long ago gotten over his anger and was back to his usual psychotic glee. This was one of the best fights in his life; nobody ever lasted as long as the blonde in front of him and the extra wait made everything even more exciting. The moment where he sacrificed this one to Jashin would be long remembered and cherished in his eternal life.

"What's the point of fighting it Blondie? No matter what you do I can't die" Naruto huffed for a moment, despite his near eternal stamina the fight was really starting to wear on, he was going to have to do something about that soon.

"Yeah, I'd ask how you did that but I already know and I didn't particularly like the answer." Hidan just smiled, he was only a little put off that this teen knew so much about their organisation, or specifically him, but it wouldn't matter for much longer.

"I was merely willing to go the extra mile than the rest of the idiots of that so-called _Jashinism _wouldn't_; _they wouldn't know the first thing about Jashin-sama." Naruto just nodded in exasperation having caught his second wind. The two combatants began to slowly circle one another, each on one side of the fairly large room. If he had looked closely enough as they circled Hidan might have noticed that Naruto would seem to flicker every so often as they moved. Unfortunately for him the room was dark and Hidan was more focused on the ceremony he had yet to perform.

Naruto took a deep breath, smiled and prayed to whatever gods that were listening, except Jashin, that this would work. He rushed forwards, for once initiating the combat as he dived under one of Hidan's blows only to spring up onto his hands. Hidan was only momentarily confused by the action but figured it only made it easier for him to deal with the whelp. Naruto stayed on his hands, fending off Hidan's scythe with his feet while using his clawed hands to maintain a steady grip on the floor. His legs were a lot more powerful than his hands so thanks to his extraordinary balance he was able to launch off rapid blows while constantly evading Hidan's mad swings.

"Nice trick, were you in the fucking circus?" Naruto ignored him but smiled as he was reminded of the way Tayuya talks. Slowly he began to lead Hidan around in a spiral that steadily moved inwards towards the centre of the room, never once did he drop off his hands. Hidan was actually starting to grow annoyed, the kicks, or were they punches, came in hard and fast leaving bruises across his rapidly healing body.

Finally Naruto feigned before rolling under Hidan's legs; on the way through he caught them and pulled as hard as he could. Hidan was pulled out from under himself, landing with a crack on his back. He would have rubbed his head from the pain if Naruto hadn't sprung to his feet and like lightning pinned all of his limbs the floor with elongated kunai. Naruto took a breather while Hidan struggled against his bindings, uncaring of the pain the action brought.

"You think this will hold me long you faggot? I'd rip my own arm off to appease Jashin-sama." Naruto just rolled his eyes and threw a kunai at the man's neck, squarely severing his head from his body. He wasn't usually one for such brutal treatment of a prisoner but he figured this was a special case. "You can't silence Jashin-sama, when Kakuzu deals with those bitches and reattaches my head I'll gouge your fucking eyes out!" Naruto just sighed and put his head in his hands before walking over to where Hidan's head was rolling about.

He picked him up and looked at him, their eyes meeting as the disembodied head stared down the jinchuuriki. Naruto just smiled and threw Hidan's head over to his body, watching it land on his own chest with a dull thump. Naruto ignored more of his angered shouts and wails as he moved over to the man's hand and took his Akatsuki ring. He then moved to his other hand and pried out his Jashin symbol, when this was over he was going to have to investigate that. Hidan was still uttering curses and various obscenities by the time Naruto picked him up again.

"Hey, how long does your immortality last without a sacrifice to Jashin?" Hidan's eye twitched at the disrespectful way he spoke about his god before he tried to bite Naruto, to no avail.

"Fuck you heathen, I'm not telling you anything" Naruto smiled which made Hidan quieten down for just a moment.

"You just told me everything I need to know." He held up his hand a little higher and turned Hidan so he could look around. "Do you see that?" Hidan tried to look at what the blonde was trying to point out. He would have shaken his head if he still had neck muscles attached to it. "Look harder." Hidan scowled and was about to berate Naruto again when he spotted the faint pattern that encircled his decapitated body. He looked again and saw intricate seals occasionally dotting the room, all centered around his body.

"Oh, you see it?" Hidan's look of fury returned as he tried to move in Naruto's iron grip. "That's a sealing array, now usually you can't seal a human, especially an alive one but I found a way while I was working on my signature move. It's what lets me move through sealing arrays despite having chakra." He smiled a bit more casually, like he was just lecturing a student instead of explaining his opponent's defeat.

"So I seal you away, you can't sacrifice to Jashin anymore and... then what?" for possibly the first time in Hidan's immortal life a look of fear passed over his features and he gulped, widening Naruto's smile. He was speechless, he had never feared death before, partly because he thought he was immune to it, yet here he was, looking down at his own body, having his own slow death explained to him.

"I will fucking kill you! I'll rip your arms off, then your legs, make it as slow as I possibly can then mmmpphhh mmmmpphhhh mmmhhhppph!" Naruto had grown tired of listening to his insane opponent continued to speak and had covered up his mouth. When the disembodied head tried to bite him he simply tossed it back onto his body before bending down and passing chakra through a nearby seal. The room glowed briefly as the seals lit up and Naruto cheerily waved to his vanishing opponent.

"Bye bye!" The glow stopped and Naruto looked back over to see that Hidan's body, and thankfully his head, had disappeared. He stood up and cricked his back; all that time on his hands really put a strain on his back and wrists. Not to mention the fact he was forced to use Swift Release in order to write out his seals without Hidan noticing. In all he felt pretty drained, he sucked it up though and turned to face the corridor he had entered. He could return and move Hidan into a scroll later, for now he had to get back to Tayuya and the others somehow.

* * *

Tayuya flipped over another fireball, the creature chasing her seemed to have an infinite supply of them and wasn't shy about using them. It was like dodging rapid fire kunai, except hotter and she couldn't dodge them by only a little bit or risk third degree burns. Already she had to dive through the water to prevent herself from losing half her arm; never had she thanked her medical skills so much. She had already lost count of all the ways she had tried killing the damn creature; electrocution didn't work, cutting it didn't work, setting fire to it didn't work, trying to crush it with debris didn't work.

She was frustrated beyond belief; the only thing she had found that seemed to remotely work was vibrating the damn thing. It seemed to loosen the connection it had between itself and Kakuzu; except she couldn't do it enough to fully sever the tie. All she could do right now was dodge it and continue trying different ways of killing it. She heard the crackle of air as another fireball was launched her way; charging up her staff she turned and tried to swat it back at her pursuer, only for it to bend its body out of the way and fire yet another ball.

* * *

Guren wasn't faring much better; Kakuzu had been very smart when he sent his lightning mask after her; all her crystal attacks proved useless. She would attempt to capture the creature only for it to coat itself in lightning chakra and burst out. Trying to skewer it on needle crystals or with her Hexagonal shuriken only resulted in it shrugging off the blows like they were nothing. Then she had its attacks to deal with, it could create a constant stream of lightning from its 'mouth' which could slowly chase her down.

Despite usual lightning attacks not having much effect on her crystal armour she had learnt firsthand that this much more concentrated version could melt straight through it. She was running through the room, clutching her side in pain as she tried to stay out of the water or risk getting second-hand electrocuted from a stray shot. She heard the now familiar sizzle of air being burnt off as the mask creature charged up for another attack. She dodged to the side, erecting a wall of crystals behind her as she ran.

She heard the discharge of energy as the thread-creature let loose with another bolt of deadly lightning. She looked behind her in time to see it impact with the wall of crystal; expecting it to shatter under the attack she raised an arm to shield her eyes. What she didn't expect was for the bolt to pass straight through the shield, not damaging it but getting skewed off to one side as it went through. She looked back and forth between her shield and the wall that now held a nasty burn mark before a smirk found its way onto her lips. _'That could work'_

* * *

Yugito, despite knowing that now Kakuzu's earth heart was gone he was vulnerable, wasn't happy about it. Vulnerable wasn't a good word to describe Kakuzu in any way; staying at a distance proved difficult with his deadly water techniques and incredible chakra capacity. Getting in close was suicide thanks to those damn threads and anywhere in between was dangerous just because the man was fairly unpredictable now that he was taking the fight seriously.

Cutting the threads that composed his body proved to be impossible, even with her razor-sharp claws. Any time that she thought she actually managed to do it he would just disperse into a rush of water indicating an annoying use of the water clone. Then came his counter attack; he had already used the water dragon jutsu to startling effect, the damp craters in the walls around her serving as testament to that. His arsenal of jutsu seemed nearly endless and each one was executed perfectly, she had never met anybody with such a mastery of the water element before.

Suddenly her thoughts were cut short as she felt a very strong hand wrap around her throat. Her eyes opened wide in panic as she looked around, only to see the patchwork hand she was held by connected to Kakuzu's body by a long length of the threads. The man smiled behind his mask as he slowly drew his hand back towards his body, squeezing a little harder around the woman's neck. He brought her close so that she was looking at him right in his oddly coloured eyes.

"You are lucky that we are not here to kill you. Then again, with what the Akatsuki have planned for you, perhaps death would be a blessing. In either case I am going to have to ask for more money, you silly girls have already cost me two hearts." He smiled dispassionately as Yugito started to feel darkness encroach on her vision, loosing herself to unconsciousness.

* * *

Tayuya turned on a dime, flipping herself up and over the creatures as she firmly planted her staff in its back. With an enormous burst of lightning chakra she attempted to once again electrocute the creature in the water that covered the floor. It only paused for a moment before she watched in sick fascination as the mask twisted one hundred and eighty degrees to look at her. The mouth opened and her eyes widened before she pushed off again, moving as fast as she could to escape the enormous fireball the black-threaded creature unleashed.

"Tayuya, I need your help." The redhead looked up incredulously at Guren who was busy flipping across a wall to avoid the great beam of lightning trying to cook her.

"I'm a little busy!" Guren just grunted as she erected another wall of crystals between herself and the lightning mask. It wouldn't hold long so using that opportunity she sprinted over to Tayuya, sending enough crystal shuriken at the fire mask to momentarily hold it up. She quickly explained her plan before the two of them were forced back into fleeing their respective masks. Tayuya didn't particularly like it, it sounded far too risky but she didn't have anything else so she had to go with it.

"Summoning Jutsu!" With a brief moment of respite earned by passing more lightning chakra through the water she slammed her hand down. After the smoke cleared a large falcon, the size of a large dog, appeared beside her, its eyes widening as both it and Tayuya dodged to the sides to avoid a large ball of flames. "Hayamizu! I need your help." The seemingly larger than possible falcon just nodded, its wings already moving about in intricate spirals as the water began to respond.

Tayuya ran to where Guren was already preparing her part of the plan, forming large circular objects out of her crystal. Tayuya knew that Kayamizu would only give her so much time so as soon as she saw an opening she rushed in between them. Time seemed to slow down for both of them as light began to crackle around the mask's mouth. If this didn't work then Guren was about to be turned into a lightning rod, something she didn't think she would survive.

Tayuya dived through the air, intercepting the bolt of lightning with her staff as the metal absorbed the energy like a sponge. Using her own chakra to prevent herself getting fried Tayuya quickly twisted through the air, moving her staff out in front of her. Her hands trembling from holding back all the power in her staff she released it all in one blast, directly at the crystal Guren had created. She made sure to release it all before she touched back down, preventing any of the energy from being grounded.

The bolt hit dead in the centre of the circular crystal and there was a moment's delay before it came blasting out the other side. The lens focused it, condensing it into an even more powerful bolt as it was released, directly at Kakuzu. It soared through the air, splitting molecules from its intensity before impacting with Kakuzu's side, not stopping. The blast ripped right through his torso leaving a sizzling hole through both sides of his body.

Yugito could only watch as Kakuzu's eyes widened momentarily before the grip he had around her throat loosened and she fell to the wet floor. The two masks froze for a moment before both suddenly rushed to their master's aid, both unravelling as they went. The fire mask would have reached him first if Guren hadn't suddenly placed both hands on the ground. In its confused and hurried state the mask could do nothing as a crystal spear shot out of the ground, splitting the mask in half as the heart it concealed was skewered.

The lightning mask did make it, Kakuzu's body absorbing it as his wrecked heart was replaced again. He stood up, fury in his eyes when he realised that he was down to his last heart. He had survived the First Shinobi war, gone toe to toe with Hashirama Senju himself and harnessed the most powerful kinjutsu in Takigakure. He was not going to die here to a bunch of women barely out of their diapers. With a roar of annoyance he thrust both his hands into the water that covered the floor.

"Lightning Style: Discharge Lightning Calamity!" Faster than most could blink, arcs of electricity spread through the wet floor. All three women were caught unprepared as they cried out in pain, their bodies almost glowing from the sheer amount of lightning passing through their bodies. Kakuzu didn't let up until he saw their bodies smoking, completely uncaring that he was killing his target. Finally he stopped and the women's locked-up bodies were allowed to rigidly fall to the floor, still twitching.

Kakuzu just smirked, he wasn't dying today. That smirk fell right off his face as he jerked forward, spitting out blood as he did so. His eye went wide as he looked down to see five, razor sharp fingernails, the end of a metal bo staff and numerous sharpened crystals piercing his body. He gulped, trying to stop the blood flowing from his mouth as his eyes blinked rapidly. He looked back at the cooked bodies floating in the water only for them to dissolve away. He tried to speak but his words caught in his throat before he fell to the water, dead for good this time.

Tayuya twirled her staff, ridding it of blood as Yugito did the same, both retracting their respective weapons while Guren just let her crystal dissolve back into the air. They all looked down at the body in front of them while Tayuya prodded it with her foot, watching it drift lazily in the water. Tayuya just smiled happily, despite having come so close to death more than a few times in the fight.

"Huh, and Naruto thinks that genjutsu has no impact in a fight." The women to her right and left just sweat-dropped as they looked at her incredulously.

"Why couldn't you have done that sooner?" Tayuya just shrugged as she turned to Guren.

"I'm sorry; I was too busy trying to _not _become a Tayuya flambé!" Yugito was still looking down at the body floating in the tepid waters, amazed at how close she had come to dying or getting kidnapped.

"It doesn't matter, he's dead and all of us will be fine." Tayuya just turned to her with a smirk.

"Oh, look at Miss Glass Half-full, if you'll remember it was me and Guren who saved your ass." Yugito just scowled.

"Hey, it was my idea!" Tayuya just looped an arm around Guren's shoulder.

"Yeah, but it was my awesomeness that made it happen." There was a moment of silence in the room before all three women burst out laughing, the situation too much for them. It was that scene that Naruto rushed in on; looking ready for a fight as he quickly surveyed the room. What he hadn't expected was to find the three women laughing while Kakuzu's dead body drifted lazily around in the water. He looked around, spotting the numerous signs of an intense fight in the form of smoking or damp craters or large trenches of smouldering earth.

"Woh, what happened here?" All three women turned to see Naruto, two of them sighing in relief that he was okay. Naruto walked over as they all looked around the room, seeing the damage they did for the first time.

"Not much Shithead, just kicking some ass." Naruto wasn't sure whether to back away slowly from the chuckling women or go over and hug Tayuya. He decided on the latter and after a few giggles from Yugito and Guren he separated, walking over to Kakuzu's body before flipping it over with his foot. Carefully he slipped the man's ring off before putting it with the others; it took him a few moments to seal away Kakuzu's body but once he was done he stood back up.

"Okay, I just have to go back and collect Hidan's body then we'll probably have to report all this to the Raikage." He received a round of nods from the women before Tayuya looked at the scroll in Naruto's hand.

"So who gets the bounty on that guy's head?" Everybody sweat-dropped while Tayuya just looked around.

"What?"

* * *

The Raikage was still holding the two scrolls incredulously, looking up at the group of people that had killed two of the most dangerous S-ranked criminals in the world. He had a right to be sceptical but once Naruto had shown him Kakuzu's body and Hidan's head, which wouldn't shut up, he was convinced. Seeing a disembodied head scream obscenities at him was an eye-opening experience for the normally stoic Raikage. In the end he had sighed from relief when Naruto re-sealed Hidan back into the scroll he would be calling home for the foreseeable future.

Not only that but Naruto had dealt with the man single-handedly, A wasn't even sure what to make of that and had to re-evaluate just how powerful the teen in front of him was. He now had Hidan's scythe slung over his shoulder and all he would say about it was that he had taken a shine to it after seeing how effective it was in a fight. The Raikage decided not to question it as he simply wanted the group out of his office before his headache got any worse. After the group had collected their respective bounties, the three girl's splitting Kakuzu's evenly and Naruto claiming Hidan's in its entirety, they walked out of the office, with Yugito staying behind.

"I'm glad you're okay Yugito, Bee wouldn't have forgiven himself if anything happened to you." The blonde just nodded, smiling lightly at the thought; she was certain that if Bee hadn't been away on a mission then he would have been right there with Naruto and the others.

"Thank Naruto, Guren and Tayuya. Without them I'm certain I wouldn't have made it." A nodded solemnly, he knew this already and he would be writing a personal note of thanks to the Kazekage.

"I know you've had a recent traumatic time because of the Akatsuki but that's why I believe my next request is important. I want you to find out how they got into our village so easily, find it and stop it so it can never happen again. You might be safe now but we have no way of telling if they will try this again." Yugito nodded, giving a cheeky salute to the Raikage as he just smiled. "And be careful Yugito, Kami knows your parents would haunt me if anything happened to you."

* * *

"Try it again Tayuya." The redhead just grunted as she shot an irritated look at Naruto, quieting the blonde up.

"I already have, seven times!" Naruto just nodded while Tayuya continued to strain. They had been trying to work out how Tayuya could activate her new seal all day now; it proved more of a challenge than Naruto had foreseen. The original curse mark latched onto feelings of anger and hatred but without that aspect Tayuya was having difficulty finding its trigger. They had already tried the obvious answer of channelling chakra in the area but all that got her was a light tingling sensation from the seal.

"Well the original seal used emotions as a trigger, maybe we just need to find out another that will activate the new seal." Tayuya just sighed, really hoping that the trigger was frustration because then she would have it worked out in seconds.

"You made the damn seal, why don't you know what fucking activates it?" Naruto just shrugged as he smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, I couldn't predict everything." Tayuya just scowled in his direction as he held up a placating hand. "Alright, why don't we take a break for a while, go get some dango or something?" Tayuya just nodded with a small relieved smile as Naruto walked over, wrapping her up from behind in a warm hug. Tayuya's frustrations melted away as he pulled her in close, resting his head on her shoulder as she leaned back into his body.

Tayuya felt excitement run though her body as the blonde planted a small but loving kiss on her neck, then another slightly higher up as he worked his way around to her mouth. She turned her head to make it easier and soon they were both pressed up against one another, their tongues wrestling playfully. Tayuya smiled into the contact and Naruto brought his leg up so that she was straddling his thigh; this was a fairly common sight with them now, they were practically inseparable.

She suddenly felt a strange sensation in her shoulder, thinking that Naruto had kissed her too hard, if such a thing was possible, she just carried on. However when Naruto opened his eyes they widened, making her pull back in confusion.

"What?" He just pointed at her as she looked down on her body, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. He took off his headband and held it up so that she could look at her reflection in the polished metal. She gasped at what she saw; her hair had grown much longer, becoming a light shade of pink. Her skin hadn't changed at all thankfully but her eyes were different, the irises were larger and her pupils had vanished completely.

That's when she noticed that she suddenly felt stronger, like she just had more energy running through her body. Naruto too was looking her over, feeling the slight shift as her chakra suddenly increased. They both knew that she had activated the seal, not really understanding why until Tayuya suddenly groaned, falling to her knees.

"Awww come on!" Naruto just looked at her oddly while she continued to sulk.

"What is it?" Tayuya just looked up hopelessly as she rubbed the spot where the seal was glowing a warm blue.

"I have a seal that gives me awesome powers but it's activated by fucking love? How stupid is that!" Naruto just sweat-dropped comically as he took in the sulking Tayuya, he moved over and pulled her back onto her feet.

"Well we don't know it was that. It could have been, well, umm, you know..." Tayuya looked up at him strangely, not catching what he meant until she saw his slight blush and her eyes opened wider. A smirk found its way onto her face as she rubbed up against him slightly which made him once again notice that fact that her endowments seemed to grow while under the influence of the mark.

"Oh, so a seal activated by lust? I guess that's slightly less stupid." Naruto just chuckled as he took the hint and captured Tayuya's lips with his own, earning himself a moan from the redhead-turned-pinkette. They parted after a minute, both panting with smiled plastered over their faces.

"It could be either but the important thing is we found something that triggers it." He smirked to himself making Tayuya wonder what was going through his head. "Now comes the fun part, seeing what you can do." Tayuya grew her own smirk as she settled back into a fighting stance, Naruto doing the same.

"Well fucking bring it Shithead."

* * *

Bee looked over the wrecked training ground, noting the numerous scorch marks and craters which littered the plateau. Right in the centre of it all laid Tayuya and Naruto, the former straddling the latter as they furiously made out. Half their clothes seemed to be either ripped or burnt off and their modesty was only saved by a few strips of fabric, not that the couple seemed to mind in the slightest. Bee wasn't sure whether to leave or grab a chair but in the end he cleared his throat loudly, shocking the duo out of their make-out session.

"Oh hey Bee, sorry about the training ground." Bee just raised an eyebrow while Tayuya pouted at being interrupted, apparently not caring that the only thing covering her was Naruto by this point.

"Don't worry about it lil' nine, someone will clean this up just fine." Naruto nodded, he was a bit worried they had gone too far in their 'spar' but didn't let it get to him.

"So what do you need?" Bee smiled broadly.

"Big bro wants to see you, better go grab Miss seven too, got some visitors you'll want to see, so he sent a messenger in the form of one Killer Bee." Naruto nodded, standing up as he clutched at his pants which threatened to fall down.

"Thanks Bee, we'll go as soon as we..." he looked around to Tayuya who was hiding behind him so Bee wouldn't see anything "...get some other clothes." The large rapper just nodded before leaving. He swore he saw something different about Tayuya but he couldn't place it.


	52. Chapter 52

"Gaara?" Naruto looked over at the smirking form of the Kazekage; when he had said he would send people to pick up Guren, Yukimaru, and Gozu he hadn't expected him to come himself.

"Hello Naruto, I expect you weren't expecting me to come." Naruto just nodded dumbly while a head popped up behind Gaara.

"Hi Tayuya, hi Naruto." Both of them waved at Matsuri, a little dumbstruck that both had left Suna to come all the way here. Gaara saw this and smiled, waving his hands to dispel any ideas they might have been getting.

"No I didn't come all the way here just to escort your friends, that would be a little overkill don't you think?" Naruto just nodded, his usual smile coming back to his face as Gaara turned to face the Raikage. "I came to speak to Raikage-dono; I figured it was about time we met." Naruto was a little surprised that the two hadn't met already but he guessed they were both busy and couldn't afford to up and leave their villages. This made him wonder what had changed; Gaara saw this as well.

"I decided that the Akatsuki has gotten away with too much. It's time we did something about it before something bad happens. I have already received word that nobody has seen Iwa's jinchuuriki for a few months now, either of them." Naruto put his head down solemnly; he knew that meant Akatsuki had gotten to them. "That is why we have decided to convene in Konoha, Kiri will also be there if Mizukage-dono accepts the message I sent." Naruto looked at him confused.

"Why Konoha?" He figured somewhere more neutral would be appropriate, even if all four countries were somewhat allies. Kiri had gained a reputation thanks to their past, despite everything Mei was working to change. Kumo wasn't exactly liked in Konoha after certain incidents in the past which the Raikage was also working to fix. Suna were Konoha's allies but that wouldn't stop any petty personal grudges people had with Wind Country. In all Naruto didn't believe it to be a very good idea.

"I know what you are thinking but a neutral country wouldn't be good right now. There would be nothing stopping Akatsuki or anybody else from attacking while we are all convened. That is why we must do it in a shinobi country where we will at least be protected to a degree." He looked at Tayuya and Naruto, smiling softly at his oldest and closest friends. "And that is why you will accompany me as my bodyguards for the duration of the summit." Naruto still didn't seem sure of this.

"But what about Iwa? They won't be happy that all the other Kage are convening." The Raikage scoffed from his chair, obviously finding the idea laughable.

"Ha, like Oonoki would ever try something. The legendary fence-sitter wouldn't dare." Gaara nodded solemnly.

"Raikage-dono is correct, even Tsuchikage-dono would not risk attempting anything with all the other nations convened at once." He sighed as he looked at the Raikage "Even so I have sent him an invitation to the summit, despite how unlikely it is for him to actually come. That way he cannot blame us for convening without Iwa having a representative." Naruto nodded with a frown, Gaara made a good case, even if he still didn't like it.

"But why does it concern Iwa at all? Like you said they don't even have jinchuuriki anymore." Gaara shook his head, despite how much Naruto had grown he could be a bit short-sighted at times.

"No, the immediate situation does not concern Iwagakure but the Akatsuki are collecting the biju for a reason, while we don't know what that reason is it is obviously not good. That _does c_oncern Iwagakure, as a major village they have a right to know what we are doing to stop them." Naruto just nodded; while he had slightly less restriction thank to their friendship, Gaara was still his Kazekage and he would have to listen to him.

"Fine, so when are we leaving?" Gaara looked at the Raikage who simply nodded.

"Tomorrow. It's best to deal with this soon before there are any more issues." Naruto nodded, at least _that_ made sense to him. Tayuya on the other hand was frowning, counting off on her hands.

"Raikage-sama, who would you be bringing as escorts?" A looked at her, curiously, wondering what the redhead was thinking.

"Yugito and Bee, I wouldn't have anybody else as my personal escorts, plus they are the most powerful shinobi in the village in active service." Tayuya nodded with a frown.

"But then with Gaara, Naruto, Fuu, Bee, and Yugito all there, plus whoever Mei brings, wouldn't that be a lot of jinchuuriki in one place?" Naruto's eyes widened, seeing what she was driving at as he turned to Gaara.

"Yes that is correct. Precisely the reason why we are doing so, no matter how powerful Akatsuki believes themselves to be they would not dare attack a hidden village when it contains five jinchuuriki and four Kage. It would simply be foolish." Naruto had to agree with Gaara on that one, the numbers alone were intimidating to say the least; nobody would pit themselves against those odds. Naruto suddenly had a thought as he turned back to Gaara.

"Wait, if we're going to Konoha then who is escorting Guren, Yukimaru, and Gozu to Suna?" Gaara just smiled as the door to the Raikage's office opened to reveal two figures.

"Hey squirt, long time no see." Naruto turned to see the smirking faces of Kankuro and Temari.

* * *

Naruto was walking through the streets of Kumo, flanked on one side by Tayuya and Fuu, on the other by Kankuro and Temari. He was busy showing the pair around Kumo while the Raikage showed Gaara and Matsuri around himself. Right now Naruto seriously wished he was with them as Kankuro chatted about how he had converted Sasori's old body into a puppet called Scorpion. It all sounded far too morbid for Naruto's taste but he politely nodded along while Temari was shooting him apologetic looks.

They stopped for some lunch at one of Tayuya's preferred restaurants, mainly because they were one of the few that serves dango in Kumo. Temari constantly looked between Tayuya and Naruto with a smirk, mostly because Tayuya was sitting as close to the blonde as physically possible without sitting on his lap. She would have done but the table was too low down and it would have been uncomfortable for both of them. Fuu was also slightly cuddling up to Naruto on one side but not quite to the extent that Tayuya was.

"Cool tattoo Tayuya." Temari nearly scowled at Kankuro for breaking the awkward silence she had been enjoying so much. Tayuya just rubbed her neck idly while Naruto looked at her with concern. He knew that ever since he had altered the seal Tayuya wasn't in any discomfort but any mention of it would make her remember how it used to be. He just smiled and wrapped a comforting arm around the redhead's shoulders, pulling her closer into him.

"It's a seal actually." Kankuro nodded with a smile, still shovelling the food into his mouth without abandon.

"What's it do?" He yelped as Temari kicked him form under the table, her brother might have been an unobservant moron but she could clearly see the topic was a painful one for Tayuya. Naruto just smiled at them both warmly.

"It's okay Temari, I guess we never told you about it before." He tried to remember back to when Orochimaru had first given her he seal in the second stage of the Chuunin Exams. After that he guessed it must have just never come up with Temari or Kankuro. He quickly explained it to them, about what Orochimaru had done and how Kakashi had sealed it before a few days ago when Naruto improved it, getting rid of its negative properties. The two Suna siblings listened intently, wondering how they hadn't heard about this sooner, especially after two years.

"Woh, I didn't know you could use seals." Everybody just looked at Kankuro incredulously while Temari slapped him over the back of the head.

"That's what you took away from this?" Kankuro just shrugged and went back to his food while everybody else just sighed. Fuu giggled a little, she found the interaction between the siblings funny, knowing it was all in good fun. Naruto recovered, finishing the last of his dango while Tayuya pouted, he usually left the rest of it for her but was hungry today after their spar.

"Well, I guess we should introduce you guys to the people you'll be escorting back to Suna." Temari just nodded, having finished her own meal while Kankuro tried to cram as much of his as he could into one of his pouches. Naruto led them back out, taking them over to where Guren and the others were staying, still under observation from Kumo. For some reason he had a feeling that Guren would get along with Temari. Tayuya walked next to Naruto, enjoying the feel of his arm wrapped around her waist, it always made her feel so secure.

"So, you want to do something tonight? It is our last night in Kumo." Naruto nodded idly with a smile.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun but I think I should visit Kurama first. With everything that's been going on recently we haven't had much time to talk." Tayuya just nodded with a sigh, she wasn't necessarily jealous of Kyuubi, she just didn't like that Naruto would almost place them with the same importance. Okay she wasn't fooling anybody, she was jealous as hell. Of course she wouldn't say anything as it would make her sound petty, Naruto couldn't help that a giant demon fox was sealed in his stomach. Then again it didn't really help that Kyuubi was a woman, although Naruto always assured her that Tayuya was far more attractive in his eyes.

* * *

Naruto had seen some strange things in his life; Fuu's wings, Hidan's talking head, a woman materialising out of paper and a giant rapping Oxtopus just to name a few. However the scene that someone would walk into in his mindscape later on that night would have ranked very high on that list. If someone else was able to enter it they would have seen an enormous fox with nine-tails. Normally that alone would have been enough for some people to call strange or unusual.

Of course Naruto never did anything in half measures so of course the enormous nine-tailed fox was on her back, writhing in pleasure as over a hundred clones of one blonde jinchuuriki were rubbing her stomach. The furry but powerful tails thrashed about as the Kyuubi received the tummy-rub of a life time; the clones used whatever they could to scratch her. The landscape around them was slowly being levelled as the tails destroyed everything in sight, Kurama unable to control them as her mind was lost to the pleasure of the moment.

A few minutes later and Naruto had dispelled all his clones while the Kyuubi had shrank back to her smaller size. She was still on her back though, panting heavily as she tried to recover from the clone massage. Naruto was just smiling at her; he knew all the tailed beasts' lives must have been hard. They were created by the sage of the six paths nearly on his deathbed, dying not too long after. They had to grow up in a world that didn't understand them, remembering only the Juubi and the destruction it had wrought.

Naturally they were feared, hated, driven out by the fearful humans who couldn't accept the enormous chakra constructs. In a way Naruto felt connected to them, like he could understand them. They had both grown up without parents, only having a name to go on. They both were feared for something beyond their control. They both had to grow up without guidance, without truly knowing what was right or wrong and why. In the end, Naruto could connect with the Kyuubi more than most, except Gaara.

"**You remind me of him you know."** Naruto looked around to where Kurama was watching him, still on her back with her paws raised up in such an adorable way he had difficulty believing the power she held.

"Who?" Kurama smiled warmly, a rare occurrence with the great fox.

"**Our father; you are a lot alike. We may not have known him very long but we have vague memories of when we were still a part of mother. He could find the good in anybody, helping them to bring it out but at the same time he knew when violence was necessary, even though he loathed it. He was powerful, but humble beyond belief, he never asked for anything in return for what he did. In fact, you look a lot alike too, if you had red hair and no whiskers I would almost call you twins."** Naruto wasn't sure what to make of being compared to the most legendary figure in the shinobi world.

"Really?" Kyuubi just nodded with melancholy; it had been a better time back then for a short while, she had her siblings and her father. Then he passed away, leaving a world that despised them, feared them and drove them apart. Again it had seemed good for a while, the memories faded with the generations and they were left alone for a while. Then stories became legends and people sought out the biju for their power, sealing them away into hosts to fight their wars. The hatred of humanity was too much for some of them, driving Shukaku insane as he was forced to watch a monk become a weapon of war.

"**I'm not the only one. Chomei sees it as well and I'm sure if Shukaku would leave his bloodlust for even a moment he would see it too; he practically worshiped father." **Naruto sighed, thinking about everything that had been done to the biju; everything they had to live through, even Kyuubi wasn't spared. He thought of how she was sealed within him, stripped over half her chakra. The biju weren't like humans, chakra was what they were and to have it taken away must be like losing a limb.

"Kurama," Kyuubi looked up, rolling onto her side to better speak to Naruto "I've been thinking about what you told me," The fox quirked her head quizzically "about your Yin chakra." Kyuubi sat up on her haunches before padding over to sit beside Naruto, letting the blonde rest against her body as a few tails wrapped around him. This was their standard position when they talked, a remnant from when Naruto was a child and would do this.

"Why doesn't it just replenish itself like normal chakra?" He had been pondering this question for a while; chakra wasn't limitless, one could use it up; however after resting it would replenish itself. Kurama chuckled sadly, watching one of her own tails sway in front of her. "Does biju chakra not recover?" Kurama seemed to be hypnotised by her own tail, a symbol of her power amongst the biju, nine of them, marking her as the most powerful, even with only half her chakra available.

"**Yes it does, but without foundations a house can't be built."** Naruto looked up at her curiously as Kurama continued to watch her tail. **"Energy cannot come into being from nothing, it must come from somewhere. That is why a human will die if they use all their chakra. If there is none there to grow from, it will not grow."** Naruto nodded slowly, so there needed to be some chakra there in the first place for it to replenish itself and without any Yin chakra Kyuubi couldn't grow it back.

"**Do you ever wonder why when you die, I will as well? Whereas when Gaara, Bee, Yugito or even Fuu someday pass their biju will only be freed?" **Naruto nodded, he had wondered that sometimes but always just put it up to the seal the fourth had used. **"In a sense it is true, I will die, but not in the way you think."** Naruto looked up again, partly wondering why Kyuubi was telling him this. **"When the day comes and you pass into the next life I will be freed from this prison into the world, however without my Yin chakra I can never take form again. In a sense, I will be dead."**

Naruto blinked a few times, his eyes furrowing as he thought furiously about what Kyuubi had told him. The cogs in his head spun rapidly as his mind flickered from idea to idea; Kurama would be nothing but yang chakra, floating through the world, forever unable to affect it in any meaningful way again. It sounded like a terrible fate to Naruto; not one he wished on the fox that had become his first friend.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Kurama just chuckled, oh yes she saw so much of her father in the boy; so willing to help and hating feeling helpless.

"**I have accepted my fate Naruto, to recover my Yin chakra from the Shinigami would be impossible. Nothing returns from his stomach."** Naruto frowned again; his mind was working harder than it ever had before. Slowly a smile found its way onto his face, even as a crazy, stupid and brilliant plan began to form.

"Kurama?" The Kyuubi finally broke her gaze away from her tail to stare down at Naruto, red eyes meeting blue. "The seal draws out your chakra right? Converting it from a form harmful to me into my own so that I can use it?" Kyuubi nodded, her eyes narrowing as she began to suspect what Naruto was proposing. "What if I just reversed it? Converting my Yin chakra into a form that you could use, letting you re-develop it on your own." Kurama blinked at the suggestion, unable to truly believe what the young man was telling her.

"**But that would mean putting yourself in a situation where I could drain out your chakra; you would be at my mercy. With a physical form I could have a body again, I would no longer fear our deaths being intertwined, in fact your death would be to my benefit; I could be free again."** Naruto listened to her, his warm smile never wavering for a moment. When she stopped he simply looked up at her, making sure their eyes were looking directly at one another.

"I trust you." For a moment Kyuubi could almost see her father's face superimposed across Naruto's before she realised what it was. Their smiles were the same; so full of compassion and caring that one couldn't help but be drawn in by it. Kyuubi sighed as she was brought back to memories of her father with that same exact smile.

"**Even if you wanted to kit, you don't have the key to your seal, without it you couldn't alter it." **Naruto frowned, she was right, he didn't have the key to his seal and there was no way he had the time to pick it apart bit by bit, it would take years. He thought about who might have it; Konoha would only entrust it to somebody powerful who could protect it, someone with sealing skills. The first person that came to mind was the fourth himself, but he was dead so the next logical choice was Jiraiya of the Sannin.

He was powerful, that much was obvious, from what he knew he travelled a lot which would keep the key safe and he was a sealing master which made him perfect. The only problem was tracking him down; hopefully when they were in Konoha he could ask Tsunade about it, until then there was little he could do about it.

* * *

Naruto woke up from his mindscape to the soft tune of a flute; its melodious song filled the air as he sat up from the bed. Tayuya sat at the window, her eyes closed as her features were set into a smile, she was almost never happier than when she could play her flute. Naruto also enjoyed it; her harmonies were relaxing and beautiful to listen to, drawing you in. He smiled as he saw Tayuya finish her song, pulling the metal instrument from her lips almost reluctantly.

"I could get used to waking up to that." Tayuya looked around at Naruto with a smirk, walking over as she pushed him back down onto the bed playfully.

"Hmm, and what would you be willing to do for it?" He just chuckled and grabbed her arm, pulling her down on top of him before wrapping her up in his arms. They scooted up the bed until they were in a semi-sitting position that gave them a view of the star studded sky out of the window. Tayuya wrapped her own arms around Naruto's waist before nuzzling her face into his chest. "So what did you two talk about?" Naruto smiled, she was always curious about what he and Kyuubi talked about.

"We were discussing how to get rid of you quietly so that we could run off and live happily ever after together." He heard a snort in his head as Tayuya looked up at him with mock-hurt written over her features.

"Yeah, like you would ever dump this." She motioned with her hand across her own body, lingering over her endowments. Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before smirking.

"Yeah, you're right." Tayuya just huffed in a victorious manner, snuggling back into his chest.

"Damn right I'm right." Naruto smiled as he kissed the top of her head making Tayuya smile in content as they both looked out of the window again.

"But seriously, we were talking about a way to get Kyuubi her Yin chakra back." Tayuya looked around, shifting her position so she could look across at Naruto.

"Is that a good idea?" Naruto just nodded with a shrug.

"I don't see why not, could you imagine living without half of yourself for almost seventeen years?" Tayuya looked ready to argue but seeing the conviction n Naruto's eyes she knew she wasn't going to change his mind.

"Fine, I guess that would make you more powerful anyway." Naruto raised an eyebrow, he hadn't even considered that but he guess Tayuya was right, having Kyuubi almost double her chakra would also give him a boost. Naruto just smirked as he tugged her closer.

"That means you'll have some catching up to do." Tayuya returned the smirk as she playfully rapped him on the forehead.

"Hey, once I got this mark down you'd better watch your back." Naruto nodded as he settled back down on the bed.

"Yeah, once you get used to the chakra being pumped into your body I could increase the flow, hell by the time we're done you could have chakra comparable with a biju." Tayuya smiled widely at the thought, to have that much power on her own would be incredible; Naruto just chuckled. "Then you can see just how hard it is to cast a genjutsu with that much chakra." Her smiled turned into a frown; she weighed the costs of having that much chakra to being unable to weave her intricate and subtle genjutsu, some of which have saved her life.

"Nah, I'll just work on my chakra control." Naruto snorted loudly, he knew it wasn't that easy; even so, if anybody could do it he believed Tayuya could. Hell, if she managed it she could put an entire army under a genjutsu without a single one realising it was happening. He shuddered unconsciously; maybe it would be best if he didn't get on Tayuya's bad side when that day came. He smirked to himself. _'Better start laying the groundwork then'_. He rolled over and planted a quick kiss on Tayuya lips which she quickly deepened until it was suitably French.

The two rolled around on the bed as they got better acquainted with one another by slowly removing each others' clothes. Soon Naruto was in nothing but his boxers while Tayuya was down to just her panties, now a vibrant red which matched her flaming hair. Unknowingly Tayuya had activated her seal; her body grew in certain areas while her hair shifted into pink. Naruto came up, panting for breath and noticed the changes, specifically the ones that affected one of his favourite areas on Tayuya's body.

"Umm, did you know when you activate your seal your breasts get bigger?" Tayuya looked down at herself, trying to figure out if he was right while her brow furrowed.

"You think?" Naruto smirked as he placed a hand against her breast, feeling it as he kneaded it to her heart's content.

"Pretty sure." Tayuya would have slapped him for being so cheeky if her head hadn't already lolled back from the pleasurable action. She gasped as he felt his warm mouth envelop her nipple, sucking on it and licking it as his other hand tickled her stomach, gently caressing her body while she laid back and enjoyed the wonderful sensations. His warm, dextrous tongue swirled circles around her hardened bud before lightly flicking it, earning him moans as Tayuya arched her back. Naruto just smiled as he moved back, blowing on it, the cold air nearly too much for Tayuya as she yelped out in surprise.

Naruto left his hands where they were as his mouth began to travel lower, licking and kissing her taught, smooth stomach. Tayuya's hands gripped the bed sheets as she tried to keep her body from moving about too much and not really succeeding. Naruto finally reached his prize as he gently pulled down Tayuya's panties with nothing but his teeth. By the time he moved back up her legs to her slit she was already glistening from anticipation and pleasure.

He wasted no time in teasing her, licking around her dripping core before moving tantalisingly close, only to move back away again. He knew her limit and before long he planted a light kiss across her slit before licking it once across the length. Tayuya moaned out in pleasure but what really drove her over the edge was when he leant back and gently blew across her core, the sensation of the cold air across her privates proving too much as she screamed out with her first climax of the night.

Naruto smirked from his efforts, finding it strange that he could affect her so much without even properly using his tongue. Before Tayuya could come down from her high though he started to swirl his tongue delicately around her swollen lips, licking up anything that came out. He flicked his tongue against her nub experimentally only to smile when he heard her gasp. He did it again, and again, and again until Tayuya was left panting heavily on her bed, riding out the pleasurable sensations while forcing her hips forward, begging Naruto to go further.

Not wanting to disappoint her he gave one last lap to her special nub before hungrily digging into her soft tunnel with his tongue. He swirled it around and lapped at it while one hand played with her breasts and the other held her steady at the hip. Tayuya bit her lip but was unable to hold back the scream that came as she did, startling a bird that had landed on their windowsill. Naruto made sure he worked every last ounce out of her orgasm, letting Tayuya ride it as long as he was able. Finally though she came down, her body dropping to the bed as Naruto finished up drinking her nectar.

He looked up at her smiling through the valley of her cleavage before he crawled up the bed to lie at her side. Ha pulled an arm around her as he pulled her close, content to have her warm naked body next to him. Tayuya however frowned as she felt the tent in his boxers press up against her behind, thinking about all the times like these when he had done everything he could to pleasure her while asking for nothing in return. She could only imagine how frustrated he must feel and while she wasn't quite ready to cross the line yet there was something she could do.

Turning around on the bed she stared into his eyes through her own half-lidded ones, taking in his smile and contented features. She wondered how he could be like that when she was the one getting all the pleasure while he did all the work. _'Does he love me that much that just seeing me happy is enough for him? _Tayuya wrapped her arms around him tighter as a small tear made its way out of the corner of her eye. Naruto seemed surprised by the hug but didn't complain as he enjoyed the feeling of Tayuya's mounds pressed up against his chest.

"Thank you for everything Naruto." Naruto just looked down at her confusedly.

"What are you talking about Tayuya-chan?" She brushed away another tear that threatened to escape her eyes before looking up at him.

"I don't know how my life would have been without you and I don't want to know, thank you for everything that you've done for me. I don't think I can ever repay you." Naruto just smiled at her kindly, only a small hint of confusion in his eyes now.

"Tayuya, just you being here with me is enough thanks; my life would be empty without you." She smiled before reaching across the small gap between them to lovingly kiss him, just a simple kiss on the lips. She separated but proceeded to kiss him on the neck, before moving to his collarbone, then his chest. Naruto just looked down, wondering what she was doing as she moved lower and lower on his body with her lips.

"Tayuya-chan, what are you doing?" She just held up a hand to quieten him while she smiled through her next kiss. Like he had done minutes ago she took his boxers with her teeth and tugged, pulling them off his body while he looked down. Naruto still wasn't sure what was happening but let her do this, curious. She came back up, blinking as she stared at what she had uncovered, not quite sure what to make of it herself. She had heard from Temari that size was important in a man; from only a glance she would put it somewhere between seven or eight inches. She had no idea if that was good or not but to her it just seemed... right.

Like Naruto she started off with a simple lick, getting a taste for it; it was slightly salty but she guessed that was from sweat. Other than that she couldn't really complain, however it did bring a smile to her face when she thought it tasted of Naruto. Naruto on the other hand was blinking rapidly; both from the unexpected pleasure the lick brought him and the unexpected lick itself. He was about to ask what Tayuya was doing when she did it again, a longer lick all the way from the base of his shaft to the tip, ending with a satisfied smack of her lips.

If he had looked down he would have seen Tayuya's eyes twinkle curiously or perhaps mischievously. In her mind this had just become a competition as well as a form of recompense for all the times he had so easily manipulated her with his tongue. Grasping it lightly with her hands she got a feel for it, noting how warm it was before guiding it towards her mouth. She started by kissing the head and was obviously off to a good start if the hiss through Naruto's teeth was anything to go on.

Encouraged by this she swirled her tongue around the head experimentally, grinning when she heard Naruto groan above her. Throwing caution to the wind she took as much of it as she could into her mouth, nearly gagging as she went too far. Naruto nearly lost it then and there, the sensation of Tayuya's soft, warm mouth and her tongue gently moving against his member was incredible. Then she started to lightly bob up and down, sucking on it while swirling her tongue so it could taste even more of him.

Naruto had his eyes clenched shut as he tried to hold back the groans that so desperately wanted to escape his mouth. Now he understood how Tayuya felt when he went down on her and was regretting missing out. Eventually it proved too much and he felt something building up, something that desperately wanted to be released. He looked down at Tayuya pleadingly while she looked up at him in turn with big emerald eyes.

"Tayuya-chan I, I..." He couldn't speak anymore before he felt it shoot out; Tayuya's eyes widened at the unexpected release. She almost withdrew and spat it out in shock but remembering the way Naruto had so happily lapped up her own juices she tentatively swallowed. It wasn't bad, a bit salty and the aftertaste was slightly bitter; there was nothing she could really compare it to. She moved away from him, crawling back up the bad to him so he could instinctively wrap his arm around her and draw her close.

"I love you Tayuya-chan." She smiled as she let him pull her towards him; pulling the bed sheet over them as he did so.

"Yeah, I love you too Shithead."


	53. Chapter 53

Naruto couldn't help but look across at Gaara as they walked together; ever since they entered the Land of Fire he had been reclusive. Matsuri had actually been worried enough to ask Naruto if he knew what was wrong with the sand-wielder. Naruto had no idea, and that worried him; before leaving for his training trip Naruto could almost always tell what was going through Gaara's mind. Now, as they walked along the path that brought them closer to Konohagakure, he couldn't find what was wrong with his friend.

"Hey Gaara." The redhead didn't even look around when Naruto slunk back in the group to walk next to him. "Ryou for your thoughts?" Gaara looked up at the path ahead of them before sighing and looking around at his friend.

"A lot has changed since the Chuunin Exams, hasn't it?" Naruto looked at his friend quizzically before nodding as he contemplated his words.

"I guess it has. Orochimaru, Akatsuki, hell even me and Tayuya and you and Matsuri." Gaara just nodded as they continued along the road; it was just the five of them, the Raikage would be coming his own way.

"Yes, who would have thought that when I next walked through the gates of Konoha it would be as Kazekage of the Sand Village?" Naruto nodded again, thinking of all the things that had changed for better, or for worse, since that eventful month. "Not just that, we have both changed, both become more powerful." Naruto smirked at that as he turned back towards the redhead.

"Yeah, but isn't that good? We have to get stronger so we can continue to protect the people closest to us." Gaara nodded solemnly; still caught up in his nostalgia, as a Kage of a hidden village he knew that better than anybody.

"Yes, but don't you wish we could go back to those days when it was just me you and Tayuya? No worries except for our next mission or next prank?" Naruto smiled warmly as he placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"Not a day goes by when I don't think that Gaara." His friend turned to look at him, a little surprised "But every day I remind myself not only of what hardships I've had to face, but of what I've gained. I have Tayuya, I have Fuu, I grow stronger so I can protect them and I have the wisdom you can only earn by making mistakes. I wouldn't trade away my life for any other just like I hope you wouldn't either." Gaara paused for a moment as he thought before he looked up at Matsuri and an equally genuine smile appeared on his features.

"I know what you mean." Naruto's smile turned into a cheeky grin as he playfully slapped his friend on the back.

"Then stop being such a grump and go talk to your fiancée." Gaara shot him an annoyed look before it shifted into a tired smile. They parted as he walked forward so he could travel alongside Matsuri and Naruto joined Fuu and Tayuya, walking in between two of his most precious people.

"So what's eating Gaara?" Naruto smiled as he hooked and arm around Tayuya's shoulders, letting her lean on him as they walked.

"He was just caught up in the past back when it was the three of us. I think that it's all moving a little too fast for him, realising that we are all slowly moving apart." Tayuya looked at him strangely.

"What do you mean?" Naruto sighed as his glance drifted own to Fuu.

"Ever since the Chuunin Exams we've had more and more responsibilities thrown on our shoulders and ultimately it's driven us in different directions. Think about it; back then we were inseparable, we did everything together. Nowadays we only really see Gaara when we're in the Sand Village and until Akatsuki are dealt with those visits are few and far between." Tayuya huffed, pulling herself closer to Naruto as if it could happen to them as well.

"Well joy to you Mr fucking buzzkill!" Naruto chuckled and returned her gesture, pulling her even closer to him so it looked like they were joined at the hip.

"It's true; we'll always be friends though it's just there's more in our lives now. Gaara has Matsuri though, I have Fuu and we have each other." Tayuya nodded; smiling as she looked down the road they were travelling. Travelling like a civilian was boring the hell out of her but it was moments like these, when she was pressed up against Naruto, that made it liveable.

"Huh, I guess." Naruto broke away from her, looking down at her with his eyebrow quirked.

"I guess?" Tayuya just shrugged.

"What?" Naruto just shook his head in amusement.

"Well maybe I'll just go to someone who appreciates me." With that he bent down low and pulled Fuu onto his back suddenly, shocking the mint-haired teen, before he raced off down the path.

"Hey, get back here Shithead, that's my piggyback!" All she could hear was Fuu and Naruto's laughter as the three of them raced down the path. Gaara had his head firmly planted in his hand while Matsuri was smiling in bemusement. Now he could remember why he preferred now instead of their childhood, at least he could get some peace nowadays.

* * *

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha with the hood of his coat up, obscuring his hair and a lot of his face with its shadow. Thankfully that seemed to stop people from staring at him this time and it made him wonder why he hadn't thought of this in the first place. He and Tayuya were walking on either side of Gaara and Matsuri as they were escorted through the village by a squad of ANBU operatives; only the best for the Kazekage.

With this kind of escort it didn't take them long to reach the Hokage's office where Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, unsurprisingly free of her Hokage robes. It was just as well considering Gaara had decided to come without his robes, just like he knew the Raikage wouldn't either. Instead he wore a large red coat that was fastened at the front and covered by beige body-armour slung over one shoulder. His gourd though, was notably missing, drawing the eye of the Hokage who chose to say nothing.

"Kazekage-dono, it is good to see you." Gaara nodded politely.

"As it is good to see you also Hokage-dono." Tsunade smiled at the redhead's overly polite greeting, waving him off with a hand.

"There's no need for the extra pleasantries Gaara, we should all be friends here." Gaara just smiled pleasantly, sitting in the chair presented to him. "So I understand that you were the one to call this council of Kage." Gaara nodded.

"As I have discussed with Raikage-dono, it is clear Akatsuki has been given too much free reign. Something should be done before their plans begin to threaten our nations." Tsunade sat back in the chair, nodding as she glanced out at the village, her village.

"I believe you're right, but what would you have us do? Akatsuki and their leader prove elusive and we have little information on their members or practises." Gaara smiled secretively and looked towards Naruto who nodded and stepped forward.

"While the details should be discussed when the other Kage get here tomorrow I can assure you that Akatsuki have been dealt a crippling blow. Already four members have been dealt with." Tsunade raised her brow, leaning down onto the desk with her head propped up on her steepled fingers.

"And how do you know this?" Gaara smiled.

"Two of them I have dealt with personally with Naruto's aid, a third by Naruto alone and a fourth by Tayuya and the jinchuuriki of the Nibi." Tsunade raised an eyebrow, wondering how she hadn't heard of this yet, especially considering Jiraiya was supposed to be up to date on these matters. She also cast a very curious glance at Naruto, wondering how the boy in front of her could become powerful enough to take on an Akatsuki member alone. On a cue from Gaara Naruto emptied out the pouch on his belt containing the Akatsuki rings he had collected, each one clattering down onto the desk as Tsunade looked at them, surprised.

"Wow, you really did it." Gaara just nodded as Naruto returned the rings to his pouch, sealing them away with his own smirk.

"As for information..." He motioned to Tayuya who walked forward and dropped a large file on Tsunade's desk. The young-looking blonde just groaned at the sight of more paperwork as she casually flicked through the pages inside "...that file contains a complete list of the Akatsuki members, their known abilities and last known locations, although they do tend to travel quite a bit." Tsunade nodded absently as she reached the page with Sasori's dossier, noting the large black X through his photo. She found the same thing on Deidara, Kakuzu, and Hidan's page before she came across the last page.

"You have no information on their leader?" Gaara shook his head while Tayuya frowned, she had done a lot to try and find out about him, to no avail.

"No, he proves to be difficult to pin down, all we have is a name; Pein." Tsunade quirked an eyebrow again, noticing the absence of a photo or really any information about the man, his abilities or his appearance.

"How did you come across this information?" Gaara smiled again as he leant back in his chair.

"I took active measures in assuring we had operatives within Akatsuki's fold." Tsunade scowled, Jiraiya had assured her it was near impossible to infiltrate the group; she would be having words with the toad sage later on.

"Well Kazekage-dono, this information will prove invaluable I'm sure." Tsunade paused as she flicked past a page, moving her hand back as she examined dossier of the member marked as Konan. It contained no photo but it marked her abilities down as 'paper manipulation' which sounded awfully familiar for some reason. Naruto tried to look over Gaara's shoulder, Tayuya had given him descriptions of all the members before but he had never seen the actual file before. Tsunade quickly pulled it to one side of the desk, figuring she could mull it over later.

"Well, would you care for a tour of the village Kazekage-dono?" Gaara shook his head kindly.

"No, I've been before and if I forget anything I'm sure Naruto can help me find it." Tsunade frowned again, less noticeably this time as she once again took to examining the blonde in front of her. She feared that her Sensei had made such a mistake allowing him to leave the village. He had grown into a fine man, and a finer shinobi. To take on an S-ranked criminal at the age of sixteen and not only survive but win, it was nearly unheard of. Maybe part of that strength was because he had been allowed to leave, but Tsunade couldn't help but wish that the same results would exist if he had stayed.

"Yes, very well." Everybody took that as a dismissal and Gaara politely stood before inclining his head in Tsunade's direction, to which she replied in kind. "If I may, would Naruto stay for a few moments to talk?" Gaara looked at Naruto who just shrugged back while the redhead turned.

"I don't see a problem with that as long as I get him back in one piece." Tsunade smiled at the joke as everybody moved out of the room, just leaving Tsunade and Naruto alone as the younger blonde took the seat in front of the Hokage's desk.

"So what's up Tsunade?" The older blonde growled at the disrespectful way he talked but inside it reminded her of the little brat who had convinced her to take the position in the first place.

"I thought since you left the village so quickly last time you were here we could catch up." Naruto nodded with a smile.

"Okay, so what do you want to talk about?" He had the urge to kick up his feet on her desk but thought that might be pushing it, even for him.

"How about how you managed to take down and S-ranked criminal by yourself and fought against two other-"

"Killed." Tsunade blinked as Naruto interrupted her.

"What?" Naruto smirked cheekily.

"I was the one who killed Sasori and Deidara in the end." Tsunade just blinked again as the few ANBU in the room all looked at the cocky blonde incredulously, none of them actually believing what he was saying. "Although admittedly I probably wouldn't have been able to do it without Gaara there." Tsunade sighed slightly at that, although that still made it two sixteen year-olds taking down older, more experienced and in all cases more powerful opponents, ignoring the fact that one was the Kazekage.

"And just how did you manage that?" Naruto just smiled as he stared up at the roof, pulling out one of his special kunai and twirling it around his finger by the hole. All the ANBU in the room stared at it in utter disbelief, not believing for even one second that the kid, who they were starting to notice looked incredibly similar to the Fourth, had mastered the Hiraishin.

"You know me, I have my ways." Tsunade smiled warmly, just accepting the fact that out of everybody she knew, she would never truly understand Naruto.

"Yeah, I guess you do. Now what's the deal between you and Tayuya? Last time you were here she seemed awfully close to you." Naruto smiled fondly as he thought about the redhead that had become so integral to his life. "You guys done it yet?" Naruto shot forward in his chair, the kunai spinning out of his hand as he stared at Tsunade incredulously while the blonde Hokage just fell back in her chair, laughing furiously.

"Tsunade!" She continued to chuckle as she wiped a tear away, before leaning back over and smiling at Naruto warmly.

"But seriously I'm glad for you two." Naruto was still a little shaken but he just nodded with a weak smile.

"Umm, there is actually something I wanted to talk to you about, two things actually." Tsunade waited for him to continue politely as he rooted around in a pouch before drawing out the scroll he used to make all his notes about Fuinjutsu. He opened it up and found the notation he was looking for before presenting it to Tsunade.

"Have you ever seen this seal before?" Tsunade looked at it with a scrutinising eye; to her it just looked like a few rectangles lined up with the bottom two split in half like a snake's tongue.

"Sorry Naruto, if you want help with seals you should ask Jiraiya." Naruto waved his hand, pointing to the seal again.

"No, I already know what it does, I just want to know where it came from. I found this on the tongue of a man who attacked me, Tayuya and Fuu when we last left your village." Tsunade suddenly felt a pang in her heart as she heard Naruto refer to the Leaf as 'her' village for some reason. "He was dressed like a Leaf ANBU but the mask was wrong, like it was demonised." Tsunade frowned, Naruto was giving her the description of a ROOT operative, but that organisation had been disbanded after the last shinobi war.

"Sorry Naruto, I can't help you with that." Naruto frowned before sighing and putting the scroll back into his pouch, he would look it up again later.

"Okay, well speaking of Jiraiya do you know where he is? I need to talk to him about something." Tsunade settle back in her chair, putting the ROOT issue to the back of her mind for now.

"Why? What do you need him for?" Naruto just motioned to the general area of his stomach.

"It's about the seal." Tsunade's eyebrows shot up in alarm as she slammed her hands down on the desk in panic.

"What is it?! Is the seal weakening?!" Naruto quickly waved his hands out in front of him to calm the frightened Hokage down.

"No, no, nothing like that I swear." Tsunade sat back down shakily before gulping and releasing the breath she had been holding.

"Kami brat, don't scare me like that; so what _do _you need him for anyway?" Naruto chuckled at seeing Tsunade freak out like that, it wasn't everyday he could scare a Kage, well, nearly.

"Oh I just need to talk to him about a few things, nothing too important." For some reason Naruto didn't think that telling Tsunade he planned to double the Kyuubi's power and give her a physical form again was a good idea. Tsunade didn't seem convinced but leaned back in the chair anyway, still a little shocked from jumping to a conclusion.

"Well he isn't in the village at the moment but he will probably be back for the Kage summit, I've sent for him to act as one of my bodyguards during the meeting." Naruto nodded; although why Tsunade needed bodyguards in her own village when ANBU were swarming everywhere was beyond him.

"Well it was nice talking with you Tsunade but I should probably catch up to Gaara and the others. Tayuya's probably gotten herself into some kind of trouble already." Tsunade seemed a little loath to let Naruto leave but with a small sigh she nodded and Naruto stood up to go. He was halfway out of the door when he paused and slapped his forehead comically. "Damn, I almost forgot." He suddenly vanished into thin air, shocking the ANBU present, but not as much as when he reappeared in the same instance by Tsunade's side.

The ANBU were already on alert with their hands on their weapons but Naruto just bent down and picked up his Fujin no Iki kunai. Tsunade smirked, knowing he did that on purpose just to mess with her guards; internally she sighed, knowing she would have some explaining to do to the ANBU captain when her guards gave their report. Naruto walked back out again but made sure to look straight at one of the ANBU hidden in the shadows, winking at them before he left the room. As soon as the door closed that same ANBU, a purple-haired woman with a cat-themed mask, dropped from the roof to stand in front of Tsunade's desk.

"Hokage-sama; was that really the Fourth's-" Tsunade raised a hand and motioned for the rest of the ANBU in the room to come out of hiding.

"Yes, that was a variation of the Hiraishin Jutsu, developed by Naruto himself. However that information is not to leave this room, am I understood?" The ANBU seemed hesitant, they desperately wanted to know how a sixteen year old kid had not only replicated one of the most powerful techniques ever created, but made his own version. Tsunade's eyes just narrowed as she looked over the assembled ANBU, noticing their hesitation. "Am I _understood?_" Her tone brokered no argument this time.

"Understood Hokage-sama!" Tsunade just nodded as the ANBU all returned to their positions, except for the one who had first dropped down.

"Hokage-sama, I could help but notice, Naruto, he looks a lot like-" Tsunade raised her hand again, a dangerous look in her eyes.

"That's enough Neko." The purple-haired woman's face was covered but it was obvious that her eyes were confused.

"But if he is then why is he in Suna? Shouldn't he-?" Tsunade slammed her hands down on the table in anger, but if you looked close enough you could see her eyes water ever so slightly.

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" Neko immediately saluted and returned to her position but all of the ANBU in the room were now very confused about the identity of one Uzumaki Naruto. Neko especially watched the blonde-haired boy race away out the window. _'Naruto Uzumaki? Could it really be true Kushina-sensei?"_

* * *

Naruto rushed outside, using his seal to locate Tayuya; it tugged him in the direction of the gates which he found strange. However when he took to the rooftops he managed to catch a glimpse of some kind of crowd gathered in the streets just inside the gates. He sprinted over as fast as he could, to the civilians it looked like he simply materialised next to Gaara, even the shinobi present were shocked at his speed. However most quickly turned their attention back to the commotion at the gates where a short-haired, pink-eyed girl and a large, brutish looking man were demanding entrance into the village.

Naruto quickly worked out what the problem was, their headbands quickly showed their loyalty to be to Iwagakure. Gaara had moved towards the disturbance, curious as to what the problem was.

"Excuse me." The Leaf shinobi harassing the Iwa-nin looked around, dismissing the red-haired boy with the gravelly voice quickly. Suddenly both of them found themselves enveloped up to the neck in a thin layer of sand, but not thin enough that they wouldn't be crushed if Gaara was so inclined.

"I said excuse me." Everybody in the area's eyes went wide as they took in Gaara's arrival; he hadn't even moved a muscle. Immediately he was surrounded on all sides by Leaf shinobi with their kunai poised at his throat, for all the good that would do against his sand armour. Quickly one of the Leaf-nin that recognised who Gaara was ran forward, dropping to one knee in front of the Kage.

"I apologise Kazekage-sama, I assure that the ninja meant you no disrespect." All the people gathered who hadn't recognised Gaara before widened their eyes even more, some of them whispering amongst themselves. Gaara just grunted and the two ninja encased in sand dropped to the floor as their bindings retreated back to Gaara's body, the sand vanishing as if it were never there. They rubbed their necks painfully while Gaara dismissed them, turning his attention to the Iwa-nin. Suddenly they parted as a very old and very small man walked out from between them.

"Kazekage huh, so you're the brat they got to replace that bastard Kin no Subaku." Gaara stared down at the seemingly frail old man, knowing perfectly well who he was. Those that didn't began to whisper even louder, wondering who was brave enough to so blatantly disrespect a former Kage.

"That 'bastard' was my father Tsuchikage-dono." There was a communal gasp amongst the gather crowd as Naruto naturally went for one of his kunai while Tayuya's hand twitched over her flute pouch. Likewise the girl behind the Tsuchikage placed herself in a ready stance while the more brutish looking man cracked his knuckles loudly. The Tsuchikage and Gaara just stared at one another, not moving for a second, neither blinking for a moment

"I didn't expect you to come Tsuchikage-dono." The small man stared at Gaara for a bit longer as the redhead continued to stare back impassively. The tension in the air was so thick it could have been cut by a blunt kunai. Suddenly the smaller man let out a chuckle, smiling lightly as he took in Gaara and his bodyguards.

"Call me Oonoki. I like you kid, you've got-" Oonoki's eyes suddenly twitched as Naruto's kunai managed to reflect the light, catching his attention as in a blur of motion he raced across the street, catching most unprepared for the sudden movement. He snatched the kunai out of Naruto's hand while Tayuya had already brought the flute to her lips and Naruto had already unsealed anther, prepared for a fight.

"You! What are you doing with this cursed weapon?!" Naruto looked at the old Tsuchikage curiously, he knew the Hiraishin was a feared technique in Iwa but he didn't expect anything like this. He pulled his hood down so that the old man could look at his face and all three Iwa-nin let out a simultaneous gasp, as did a few of the civilians from the Leaf Village. "Namikaze!" Oonoki pointed at Naruto furiously, dropping the kunai he had been holding in anger. Not wanting to cause an international incident Naruto put his hands up in an almost surrendering motion, but not quite.

"No, I am not Minato Namikaze. He died sixteen years ago. My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Oonoki continued to just stare at Naruto, he had met Minato Namikaze towards the end of the Third Shinobi War and this boy, minus the whiskers, was his spitting image, there was no way the two weren't related, you just couldn't get that kind of similarity without blood relation.

"Who are you?" Naruto tried to smile warmly but with a powerful Kage staring him down it proved difficult and it came out rather strained.

"Like I said I'm Naruto Uzu-" Oonoki held up a hand.

"Don't give me that! Who were your parents?" Naruto scowled and by this point Gaara decided to step in.

"I would appreciate it if you would stop harassing my shinobi Oonoki-dono." The Tsuchikage scowled in Gaara's direction.

"_Your _Shinobi?" He turned back to Naruto "You aren't a shinobi of the Leaf?" Naruto shook his head quickly while Onooki shot glances between him and Gaara a few times.

"That is correct, Naruto is a ninja of the Sand Village and his parentage is unknown. He has been an orphan since birth, at least to my knowledge." Oonoki seemed to catch the last part and sent a suspicious look at Gaara.

"What do you mean to your knowledge?" Gaara frowned, he hadn't meant to let that slip, he was trying to avoid a conflict and it appeared he was failing.

"Naruto was not born in Sunagakure, he was born here in Konoha but he left at a young age and my village took him in." Oonoki seemed to be back to full alert, slowly moving back to his two bodyguards who were currently sweating bullets at being surrounded by so many Leaf ninja. The crowd was silent; watching the brewing conflict as the tension nearly reached a breaking point.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Gaara shook his head while Oonoki continue to send poisonous looks in Naruto's direction. "You expect me to believe that this boy is _not _the son of Minato Namikaze when he holds a kunai of the Hiraishin Jutsu and damn near looks identical to the man?" The crowd seemed to have turned their full attention to Naruto now, scrutinizing him as more and more people began to open their eyes wide as they saw the similarities. The blonde felt like he was under a spotlight as he began to fiddle with the kunai nervously, which wasn't really helping.

"What's going on here?" All attention turned to Tsunade who had just arrived at the scene, taking it in with one glance and gulping as she noticed Oonoki staring at Naruto. _'Shit'_

"Tsunade! What is the meaning of this? Who is this boy?" Tsunade looked around, counting the number of ANBU operatives in the area.

"He is Naruto Uzumaki." Oonoki shot her a murderous look as he stared right into her eyes.

"Who were his parents?" Naruto too was now looking in Tsunade's direction, his own nervousness forgotten for the moment as he looked at her curiously.

"Now Tsuchikage-dono, this isn't really the place to be discussing such matters is it?" Oonoki's glare told her otherwise so Tsunade pulled in a deep breath and looked around at the gathered crowd.

"Everybody will disperse immediately!" There was a moment of hesitation as the people in the crowd looked among each other. "IMMEDIATELY!" Quickly the civilians moved away from the woman, rushing away from the scene as the ninja followed suit. Soon it was just the Hokage, a few ANBU, the Tsuchikage and his escorts, Gaara, Tayuya, and Naruto. Oonoki watched them leave with distaste, in his village it only took one order to get things done; in comparison the leaf seemed weak.

"Tsunade." Oonoki's voice was a growl now as he pointed at Naruto. "Who were that boy's parents?" Tsunade was trapped, on one hand she didn't want Naruto to find out this way, on the other if she refused it might start a war, Konoha and Iwa were on shaky enough terms as it was. She sighed deeply and looked at Naruto apologetically before turning back to the Tsuchikage.

"His parents were Minato Namikaze of Konoha and Kushina Uzumaki of Uzushiogakure." Naruto's eyes went wide as he stared at Tsunade, Oonoki was essentially doing the same but he had years of practise at not showing how shocked he was. Naruto was frozen solid as his mind just shut down, his idol, the man who sealed the Kyuubi inside of him, the man whose techniques he had based his fighting style on, the greatest Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves... was his father? He saw Gaara and Tayuya look at him strangely before his world went black and he passed out.

* * *

Naruto rested peacefully in the bed, for all the world it would appear his mind was untroubled and carefree. Tayuya lay next to him, a more worried look adorning her sleeping face as she curled up next to her unconscious boyfriend. Rained pattered lightly on the window as black clouds filled up the night sky, only a faint trace of moonlight filtered into the dark hotel room. The air next to their bed seemed to warp and twist for a moment and in a few second a man appeared out of the thin air.

He looked down at the sleeping couple, his expression hidden by his orange swirling mask as he stared intently at the blonde's face. His eyes narrowed, crinkling the slightly distorted flesh on the right side of his face. Mentally he covered up the blonde's whiskers and added a long white billowing coat to his sleeping form. His eyes narrowed even further as the corner of his mouth twisted up into a small smile.

"Interesting."

Tayuya woke up a few seconds later, rubbing her bleary eyes as she glanced around the small room. Not seeing anything unusual she looked back down at her sleeping boyfriend with worry, slowly stroking the whiskers adorning his cheek before settling back down next to him. His body was cold, something that, in Tayuya's world, should never happen, Naruto was always warm; it was just a constant thing. Tayuya didn't know whether to take it as an omen but she knew it wasn't anything good.


	54. Chapter 54

"Did you know?!" The large fox looked back at Naruto and slowly shook her head; Naruto just growled dangerously "Don't lie to me! I can turn this place back into a sewer you know!" The Kyuubi just scowled at the idea she would lie; manipulate, tell half truths, evade questions yes; lie, no.

"**I assure you I did not know, it was as much of a surprise for me as it was for you." **Naruto scowled, staring at the fox as he searched for any deception in her eyes.

"How could you not know?! He was the one who sealed you." Kurama narrowed her eyes and quickly countered.

"**And he was the one who conceived you." **Naruto just fumed as he sat down on the grass, laying back and looking up at the sky before pounding his fist furiously into the ground like a child having a temper tantrum.

"But all this time..." Kyuubi just sighed as she walked over slowly, sitting behind Naruto and letting him rest his head against her soft body.

"**Kushina, your mother, was my last jinchuuriki." **Naruto looked around into Kyuubi's eyes but she ignored him, instead staring off into the distance of the fake world they resided in. **"Her seal was much tighter than yours; I knew barely anything of what went on during my time inside of her." **Naruto turned back around, placing his head back down on Kyuubi's fur. **"I caught glimpses during her moments of weakness such as when she was scared or angry or..." **Naruto looked around but didn't speak when he saw the slight blush on Kurama's face, even through her fur.

"**It was how I came to know of her, of Minato, of the Leaf Village. I lived for those brief glimpses of the world outside; otherwise I was chained down so securely I couldn't twitch a hair on my tails."** She sighed, unconsciously rubbing a tail against her paw where a chakra chain had once been embedded. **"If I had known about her having a child I would have told you but by the time I escaped, well, I wasn't of the soundest mind." **Naruto didn't pry; the events leading up to her sealing inside of him were always a touchy subject.

"What was she like?" Kurama looked around, smiling softly as she saw all the anger had left Naruto; instead he just seemed a little, empty.

"**Like I said I only caught glimpses but from what I saw, a lot like you. She was passionate but had a temper that was legendary in Konoha, they called her the 'Red Hot Habanera'" **Naruto smiled fondly at the name making him chuckle as he realised his father was the Yellow Flash and his mother was the Red Hot Habanera, no wonder he loved the colour orange so much.

"What about the Four-" he paused for a moment as he stared wistfully up at the illusionary sky "-my father?" Kurama looked down at him, taking a deep breath which raised Naruto's head up on her side.

"**Powerful, intelligent, charismatic, hands-" **Naruto looked up at her curiously as she coughed and looked away. **"Handy around the house." **Naruto frowned but settled back down onto her side, not noticing the new blush that adorned the fox's face. **"A true genius of his time, much like you. He was always thinking of new ideas and techniques, always trying to surpass his limitations with speed, seals, his techniques, everything." **Naruto smiled as he thought of the bond he now shared with his father through their mutual love of jutsu.

"Would they be proud of me?" Kyuubi just looked down at Naruto, a little bemused.

"**Who am I to say?" **Naruto frowned but in the end he saw her point, she didn't really know them, not personally. She definitely wouldn't know their thoughts about him, even if he so desperately wanted that to be true.

"Thanks anyway Kurama, for at least being honest with me." The large fox nodded her head slowly, settling it down on her paws as she stared off into the forest that surrounded them.

"**Try not to focus on the past kit, instead focus on what you can still change. Look to make those around you proud as opposed to those who are dead." **Naruto sighed, he knew what she was saying was true, but he couldn't help but wonder just what his parents would say if they could see him today. Would they approve of him leaving the village? His father was the Hokage after all and if he had survived Naruto would have been a part of his clan. Would they have approved of Tayuya? Strangely Naruto found that he didn't care all that much, it brought a smirk to his face.

"Why do you think the old man kept it from me?" Kyuubi just scoffed as she shifted her body into a more comfortable position, prompting Naruto to do the same.

"**You saw how that old goat Oonoki reacted. You don't think if Iwa had known about you they wouldn't have tried to kill you as revenge for what your father did during the war?" **Naruto nodded with a frown as he thought back to the old man in Suna who had simply attacked him because he looked like Minato. He chuckled softly, the clues were all there, the resemblance, his love of seals, hell even his fashion sense with his cloak.

"I'm a bit of an idiot for not seeing it sooner aren't I?" Kyuubi smiled softly, not lifting her head off her paws.

"**No more so than those around you. People tend to see only what they want or expect to see, it's just human nature." **Naruto nodded calmly, yawning as he stretched out on Kyuubi's warm body.

"Well, I think that's enough hiding, I better go out and face everyone. I'm sure they'll be a lot of awkward questions I can't answer." Kyuubi smirked as he stood up, stretching off his imaginary body.

"**I'm always just a thought away." **Naruto smiled down at her kindly, scratching her lightly between the ears which earned him a small purr of pleasure.

"I know."

* * *

Naruto woke up stiffly and it took him a moment to loosen up his neck before he could look down. His waking up had disturbed Tayuya who blearily cracked her eyes open, sitting up with him as she rubbed them free of dust. She smiled as she looked him over, checking that he was okay, once satisfied she quickly hugged him before swinging her legs out of the bed and standing up. She stretched which gave Naruto an excellent view of her panties getting pulled up her firm thighs.

"Good to see you're finally up Shithead. Gaara was worried about you." She looked at him for a moment as he looked back; she was smirking furiously as he just looked down at his own body.

"What?" Tayuya just grinned before plopping herself back down on the bed next to him.

"You fainted, that's fucking gay." Naruto just pouted while she giggled.

"How would you react if you find out the man you looked up to your whole life was your father?" Tayuya just stared at him curiously, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"Umm, happily?" Naruto pouted again while Tayuya stood up again.

"Aside from that." Tayuya just shrugged, she honestly thought she was better off without her family, otherwise she never would have met Naruto.

"Uhh, stop fucking reminiscing Shithead and come join me in the shower." Naruto was silent for a moment before a grin spread across his face. He quickly ran after Tayuya just as her ass disappeared around the corner of their on-suite bathroom.

* * *

Gaara looked quite relieved when he saw Tayuya and Naruto emerge from their room with damp hair and large grins plastered over their faces. Fuu looked on with concern, hearing what had happened. She hadn't been there because Matsuri had offered to take her for something to eat while Gaara had gone to check on the disturbance at the gate. Gaara had later told her what happened and she was shocked to say the least; even in Takigakure she had heard of Minato Namikaze and to think that her brother was his son was strange.

"Oniisan!" Naruto nearly found himself bowled over as Fuu practically launched herself at him, he swiftly caught her as she wrapped her smaller arms around him as he just smiled in amusement.

"Hey Fuu, it's not like I was dead or something." Fuu just squeezed him tighter, even the thought of her big brother dying was too much for her. He was a pillar of strength to her, something constant and unbreakable that she had built her new life around. He carefully set her back down before ruffling her hair, knowing that the familiar, if slightly irritating gesture would remind her that he was still okay.

"You're taking this remarkably well; I would have thought you would have a more... interesting reaction." Naruto smiled, knowing the redhead was alluding to his pranking days, before all his days were filling with either training, Tayuya or Fuu.

"Yeah well, I had some time to think about it." Everybody knew that he was talking about his mindscape so just left it at that while Gaara nodded in understanding.

"Well?" He looked over at Tayuya in confusion.

"Well what?" Tayuya just sighed as she playfully punched him in the arm.

"What are you going to do about it?" Naruto blinked, honestly he hadn't thought about it that much, he wasn't even sure what he _could _do about it. He was sure there were probably some things his parents had left him, maybe an estate somewhere if Konoha hadn't used them when he left. Other than that he realised it didn't change his life all that much; he was still a Shinobi of Suna, he still had Tayuya and Fuu and he was still Naruto Uzumaki, although he guessed he could possibly take his father's name.

"Naruto Namikaze." Everybody looked at him strangely before he realised he said it out loud. Tayuya seemed thoughtful while inside she was thinking along the same lines _'Tayuya Namikaze, Tayuya Uzumaki, Tayuya Uzumaki-Namikaze... hmm.' _Fuu just smiled at her brother thinking the name sounded cool.

"I think it suits you." Naruto smiled at Matsuri but inside he was still contemplating it.

"Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki?" Everybody just laughed lightly, the mood returning to how it usually was between them.

"Yes well, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to think of all the ways you could change your name. As you might have noticed the Kage conference is today and the only one yet to arrive is the Mizukage." Naruto just nodded as he pulled on his coat, the black flame decals now having another meaning. He was thinking of all the ways he could really shock Konoha as payback for his childhood, thinking about one of his old ideas to walk into Iwa henged as the Fourth. He wondered if he could get a coat just like his made; that would really freak them out.

With a start he realised his father's things, including that coat, could still be in Konoha somewhere, as well as his mother's and they would belong to him. Suddenly all that pressure he had relieved in his mindscape came hurtling back down on his shoulders as the immensity of having a family was fully realised.

"_**Breathe kit." **_He did that, taking in a large breath before straitening up, he could discuss all of that with Tsunade later. For now he simply followed Gaara out of the nice hotel they had been staying at, holding his head high and uncovered with a large smirk adorning his features. For once the whispering of the people around him didn't bother him, he was content and he was happy. They made their way through the streets until they arrived at the Hokage tower where the Kage would be meeting in an hours.

He wondered where Mei was, he was sure she would have wanted to be here to make sure the Land of Water got their fair say. Hell if Oonoki could put aside his differences, somewhat, and stay for a few days then she should have been able. Then again Kiri was still recovering and they might have had more pressing matters to attend to. Even so she could send somebody in her stead, at least so they knew what was happening; he would just have to wait and see, the meeting wasn't for an hour.

Matsuri and Fuu couldn't go into the meeting so they went off somewhere together which made Naruto smile, the two were really starting to bond. Naruto and Tayuya accompanied Gaara on either side, walking like the bodyguards they came here to be. They seemed to be the first to arrive at the hall and took their place, designated by the Sunagakure symbol on a small placard. The room wasn't all that big but it had a large U-shaped table which was perfect for meetings such as these. Gaara calmly sat down while Tayuya and Naruto leaned against the wall behind him.

A few minutes later Tsunade walked in, flanked on one side by Jiraiya and on the other by Kakashi. She hesitated when she saw that Gaara was already here but more specifically she looked at Naruto who didn't acknowledge her presence at all. She sighed before nodding curtly at Gaara who returned the gesture. Tsunade took her place at the head of the table but both she and Jiraiya sent worrying glances towards Naruto who continued to stand silently, only watching out for any threats to his Kazekage and friend.

A was the next to arrive, bursting through the doors in his typical manner with his usual stony look. He was quickly followed by Bee and Yugito who both waved at Naruto warmly; he smiled back at them, upsetting Tsunade that she didn't get that kind of reaction. A sat down next to Gaara on the far side from Tsunade while Bee and Yugito went and stood by Naruto and Tayuya, the four of them chatting fondly while the doors opened again.

Surprisingly enough it was Mei who entered next, Ao and Chojuro as her bodyguards. She seemed flustered by something and Chojuro was looking nervous but they too took their place in the hall, sitting down in the seat next to Tsunade and opposite Gaara. She received the customary welcomes from the gathered Kage before returning to her quiet irritation at whatever had gotten under her skin this time.

Finally Oonoki burst into the room, looking the angriest out of the five he said nothing as he walked over to his seat, sitting down while at the same time shooting murderous looks in Naruto's direction. Tsunade looked around at the gathered Kage and their personal escorts, some of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Nations all gathered in the same room. To anybody else it would have been frightened but everybody had earned their positions in that room. She coughed loudly to get everybody's attention, as the host of the conference it was her job to get the ball rolling.

"What is _he _doing here?" Just as she was about to speak Oonoki had interrupted, still staring daggers at Naruto who looked back impassively, an impressive feat when staring down a Kage. Gaara also looked back calmly although looking closer people could spot the fine mist of sand that had materialised around him out of nowhere.

"He is my escort." Oonoki growled as people felt the tension in the room rise exponentially.

"I don't care who he is! I want the son of that bastard out of here!" Gaara's eye narrowed imperceptibly as the floor around his feet began to swirl with sand. Naruto beat him to the punch though as one of his kunai suddenly impacted with the wall behind Oonoki's head, brushing his head by mere centimetres. The old man's eyes opened slightly wider but the message was clear, if Naruto had wanted to that kunai would have gone straight through his head.

He growled imperceptably at the young blonde shinobi, angered that he would dare try to even get near to striking a Kage. After the boy had passed out in the street he had been quickly carried away by Gaara and Tayuya while Tsunade kept him or his Shinobi from meddling. It angered him that after all this time the Fourth's son had been hidden from him and he wasn't able to do a damn thing about it.

All eyes turned to Naruto as the two Rock shinobi suddenly rushed him, leaping up and over the table to apprehend the man who had attacked their Tsuchikage. However as soon as they got close Naruto simply vanished, reappearing where his kunai had impacted with the wall. Oonoki turned to him, shocked at seeing the jutsu in use after so long as Naruto simply stared him down.

"I would appreciate if you did not talk about my father that way." His tone was cold, far more deadly than somebody his age should have been able to muster although Oonoki was unperturbed. The other Kage watched the confrontation silently, although A had a small smirk just tweaking at the edge of his mouth as he saw Naruto go toe to toe with Oonoki. By that point Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi had managed to get back to their grandfather's side but Naruto simply disappeared again, reappearing next to Tayuya in a flash of yellow.

The room was silent as everybody just looked at Naruto in wonder but his face had returned to his neutral, impassive glare. Both the Raikage and Mizukage were a little shocked by the confrontation, as were the various bodyguards and escorts around the room. However A had always had his suspicions about Naruto, this simply confirmed them. Likewise Mei smiled as she realised why Oonoki was so upset and the nagging feeling that she had about Naruto. Tsunade finally cleared everything up as he coughed loudly, drawing all attention to her.

"Now that is out of the way I think we should get down to business." Oonoki snarled but reluctantly sat back down, Gaara too recalled his sand, reabsorbing it into his body. Tsunade smiled pleasantly but inside she was reconsidering if doing this was such a good idea after all. "Now then, I believe Kazekage-dono would like to begin." Gaara nodded as the same files that he had given to Tsunade were handed out to each Kage via their escorts.

"Contained in those files is all the information currently known about the Akatsuki, their members and their various strengths. As you can see both their spy networks and their monetary base have been dealt a crippling blow with the loss of members Sasori, formerly of Suna and Kakuzu, formerly of Taki." The other Kage nodded absently as they read through the surprisingly detailed report while Tayuya smirked. Jiraiya also had a flick through it seeing as Tsunade had already read it all. His eyes widened visibly when he came across a name he never thought he would see again.

Oonoki was also seething when he came across Deidara's report, noting the large black X across his photo which could only mean one thing. He kept it to himself though but he knew he would have to deliver the news to Kurotsuchi later; she wasn't going to be happy. Jiraiya was the first to speak up even as he flicked through the dossier some more.

"This is an impressive report, how did you get this information?" Gaara smiled lightly and Tayuya's smirk increased; Tsunade groaned, knowing that would be the first think Jiraiya would note.

"Tayuya infiltrated the ranks of Akatsuki personally. She was the one to compile all the information before her situation became compromised by the death of Sasori." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, looking over Tayuya once.

"Wasn't that a little irresponsible to send a chuunin into an organisation composed of only S-ranked criminals?" Gaara just raised his brow at Jiraiya, curious as to the man's intentions.

"What I do with my shinobi is none of your concern. I understood her capabilities and it was the fact that she appeared to pose no threat to the organisation that made her ideal for the mission. That, and I trusted that during her tenure as a spy she would be able to suitably increase in power enough to earn their respect and infiltrate the organisation better. She is also one of my most trusted friends, if I did not believe her able I would not have done so." Gaara spoke the entire time with a perfectly level voice making his argument sound incredibly convincing.

"Yes, well origins of the information aside I think it is more pertinent that we discuss what to do with the organisation itself. With four members currently dealt with I believe we will not have a better opportunity than we do now." The Kage, despite all their differences and petty disputes, nodded in agreement; the organisation was becoming too much of a pain.

"Hmmm, maybe Tobi can help." Everybody in the room shot around as the unfamiliar voice spoke up. They were all shocked to see none other than a man dressed in Akatsuki robes with an orange spiral mask flipping through the pages of the file. Immediately, faster than most could even think, Naruto sent a kunai flying at the man, only to watch it pass right through him as if he weren't there. The man looked up from the file and everybody could have sworn they could see a pout on his face, despite the mask.

"Aww, Tobi didn't make it into the file. He'll show you, Tobi is a good boy and will make it into the Akatsuki for sure once he delivers the message from Leader-sama!" He clapped and laughed enthusiastically, causing everybody in the room to seriously doubt the man's sanity. Gaara on the other hand stared at him critically, he was not in the file but he perfectly matched the description Tayuya gave of Tobi, that and he kept referring to himself as such.

"What message?" Tobi turned to Gaara but it was clear he was addressing the entire room.

"Leader-sama wants to deliver a warning, if the mean old Kage give up the jinchuuriki then nobody else has to get hurt." He turned his attention over to Naruto. "Leader-sama also wanted to tell Namikaze-san to give back the rings he stole because stealing isn't a very nice thing to do!" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man before calmly reaching into the pouch on his belt. He removed the rings before slowly and deliberately sliding them onto the fingers on his right hand.

"Tell Pein to come and get them himself." Tobi just nodded furiously.

"Will do!" Again his sanity was brought into question as the strange man bounced enthusiastically. Suddenly Naruto disappeared, appearing not a second later with a Rasengan in his hand which he attempted to plunge into Tobi's unprotected back, only to phase right through the man. When he was fully out of Tobi's body the masked man swiftly grabbed him by the collar of his coat and with surprising strength slammed him into the ground, or would have if Naruto hadn't flashed over to Tayuya.

"Haha, you're fast Namikaze-san but your daddy already tried that one on me. Fool me once shame on him, fool me twice..." Tobi started to phase through the floor "...and we'll kill you." He disappeared from the room entirely with a sinister giggle, leaving the Kage to suddenly erupt in an outcry.

"How did he get in here?"

"What are you playing at Tsunade?"

"Mizukage-sama, this place is not safe, we must leave immediately."

"Why do you have those rings boy?"

"QUIET!" Everybody stopped their bickering as Tsunade stood up, throwing her chair back into the wall to stick there with a dull crack. Kakashi and Jiraiya were forced to jump out of the way of the deadly chair or risked getting crushed into the wall. Everybody just stared at Tsunade before she sat down on the new chair Jiraiya somehow produced. "Now then, are we going to bicker among ourselves like a fresh genin team or are we going to sit down and discuss what just happened?" All the Kage present, save Gaara who remained stoic, grumbled but sat back down nevertheless.

"Now, it is clear the Akatsuki are trying to intimidate us with this obvious scare tactic but we are Kage, we should not respond to such a threat by blowing it out of proportion. There are only six of them and thousands of us, they only pose a threat if we remain divided and continue to put our jinchuuriki at risk with isolation." Naruto huffed from his position across the room but luckily everybody ignored him, save Oonoki who sent him another dangerous look.

"What's this about _our_ jinchuuriki? Iwa has already lost Han and Roshi to those bastards while none have you have lost anybody! Hell, Suna already have three jinchuuriki, two of them in this very room. Maybe they could spare one of them. Whatever happened to the balance of power your predecessor and my begrudging equal was always blathering on about?" Naruto growled again, it was really starting to get to him how Oonoki kept blatantly disrespecting the past Hokage's and the two people he looked up to. If Jiraiya's expression told anything he also wasn't very happy.

"The jinchuuriki that have taken Suna as their home have all done so of their free will, myself included." Oonoki just laughed right in Gaara's face as he pointed straight at Naruto.

"Right, from what I heard he stole the seven-tails right out of Takigakure, injuring some of their civilians to do so." Naruto growled again as the grip around his Kunai tightened, turning his knuckles white.

"I saved Fuu from that place!" Onoki sneered at the blonde, daring him to make a move.

"More like kidnapped." Naruto growled even louder as his canines began to elongate, to the notice of everybody present.

"You have no right to judge me, only they have that right." He motioned to Gaara, Bee, and Yugito before looking around at the room. "All of you talk about protecting us, keeping us away from the Akatsuki but there's a reason they are so easily able to get to us. You treat us like prized weapons to be fought over and protected but what do you do in times of peace? You treat us like demons, letting your people fear or hate us and treat us like animals. That's the life I took Fuu away from and that's the life I escaped here in Konoha!" His eyes had already shifted to red slits by the time he was finished and he was being visibly restrained by a wall of sand.

"Naruto-"

"**NO!** The jinchuuriki have been mistreated for long enough! If you value us so much then start fucking showing it!" He panted heavily before taking a deep breath and controlling himself. When his eyes opened again they were back to their usual cerulean blue and his teeth had retracted. The room was shocked into silence, even Yugito and Bee were staring at Naruto; nobody had ever spoken out with such passion about them before. "The biju aren't your weapons to control and neither are the jinchuuriki. We are shinobi yes but we are also humans."

Naruto huffed loudly before taking his place back against the wall behind Gaara; he had enough of old men and women making decisions about the futures of others. The rest of the room was silent again as everybody absorbed what the blonde had said. Even Oonoki seemed pensive as he remembered Han; they had been good friends before the hatred of the village drove the kind man out.

"Naruto, we-" Naruto just held up a hand at Tsunade, his eyes narrowing as he looked anywhere but at her face.

"Save it, it's not like it matters. If I have to I'll kill every last member of the Akatsuki before they hurt anybody close to me." He wrapped his arms across his chest, clearly indicating the topic was over. After a few moments of awkward silence the room returned to a somewhat state of calm as more matters were discussed. Naruto had lost interest long ago, ultimately nothing was agreed upon, their villages had too many differences, both idealistic and history-wise.

The Kage filed out of the room quietly, Gaara and Tsunade being the last ones left in the room but before Oonoki left he walked over to Naruto, putting everybody on guard.

"You speak with the same passion as your father did." With that the man turned on his heel and walked out of the room, shocking everybody by the abrupt declaration. Naruto blinked in surprise before watching the old man leave the room with a frown, wondering what brought that announcement on. Tsunade also looked like she was about to talk to him but in the end she simply sighed and walked out, shaking her head. Naruto finally pushed himself off the wall, walking over to Jiraiya before the Toad sage could run off to do Kami knows what.

"Well Naruto, you certainly spoke with conviction back there." Naruto just narrowed his eyes.

"Why wasn't I told?" His voice held no real hostility and to be honest he perfectly understood the reasons behind the decision, he just wanted to hear it for himself. Jiraiya seemed to understand that as he took in Naruto's weary expression, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulders.

"Sensei thought it best you didn't know until you were powerful enough to handle the responsibilities of both your father and mother's heritage. Both of them had gathered a fair few enemies in their time and while unfair, many of those enemies would have looked to their only son for revenge. Then you left and he never had the chance, not that I believe he would have even by the Chuunin Exams mind you, Sensei tended to keep things close to his chest." Naruto just nodded tiredly, he felt all the anger from earlier wash away, not that he had forgiven them entirely.

"There's something else I need to talk to you about." Jiraiya just motioned to the door.

"Let's walk, I'm sure you have many questions about your parents. I don't know if you know this but I was your father's sensei." Naruto just nodded, he did know that.

"Alright, let's talk."


	55. Chapter 55

Despite their previous sentiments both Naruto and Jiraiya walked through the streets of Konoha in silence. Neither really knew where they were going but whenever Naruto felt Jiraiya start to meander towards the hot springs he would divert them away, it was like the man's default destination. It was late and the sun was setting over the horizon so the streets were slowly emptying, not that it stopped the stares and whispers sent Naruto's way. In the end, and Naruto had no idea how, they both found themselves atop the Hokage monument, sitting between the spikes of his father's stone hair.

"I used to come and do the exact same thing when I was your age." Naruto looked around, a little surprised at hearing the Toad sage speak finally. "We grew up in war, it made us treasure every moment of peace we got. When Sensei was made Hokage and the war finally ended I sat up here, thinking about where my life would go from there. War is indescribable; an atrocity to nature but after all that, after everything we went through..." He sighed as he looked out over the village. "...the peace just seemed surreal, like a dream." He looked down sadly at Naruto.

"I don't know if the world is moving between cycles of war interspersed with times of peace or if we're all just hopping between fragile moments of peace before the next war." He returned his attention to the setting sun, his eyes gleaming a little in the light as Naruto saw the younger man he had once been. "However I still hope for a world united under peace, where there's no need for war or hatred. Call me a fool if you like but your father believed the same thing and he fought for that dream until the end." Naruto followed the man's gaze, watching the orange sun slowly melt into the horizon.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jiraiya smiled fondly as he looked around but unlike Naruto who saw the man Jiraiya had been, he saw the man that Naruto could become. He sighed sadly again, knowing that he had little to no part in what had made him so strong and compassionate.

"Maybe because I feel you should know, maybe because I think your father and mother would have wanted me to tell you; to be honest, I don't really know. I know your life was hard here and I do regret not being here for you when I should have been but I'll pay for my mistakes in the next life, for now I just thought I would get to know my godson." Naruto looked around, the faintest of smiles trying to etch its way onto his features.

"What were they like?" He felt strange echoing the exact question he had asked Kurama but still, he wanted to know. Jiraiya sighed, this time in melancholy as he was brought back to a time when his student was still alive, when he was still starting out with the woman he would come to love. It looked as though his eyes were searching through each individual street in Konoha, as if he could pinpoint exact locations where the memories were strongest.

"Your father, he was loyal to a fault and stressed teamwork above everything else. I won't bore you by telling you he was a prodigy, or a genius, or the most powerful shinobi of his time, I'm sure you already know that. Before you were born he was so happy, always talking to me about what he was going to train you in, what friends you would make or how proud you would make him when you finally became a shinobi, as long as that was the choice you made. In fact, towards the end it got sort of annoying." Naruto shared a chuckle with the older man, even as he felt his eyes begin to water.

"Outside of home he was always calm, the most level-headed person you would ever meet. He could analyse any situation, break it down and come up with a strategy so fast it would make a Nara's head boggle. He was respected by everybody he met and if they didn't like him when they met he made it his personal mission to make them like him. In the end though he was a fairly hopeless romantic, fell in love with the first girl he kissed." Naruto smiled, just one more thing he and his father could relate on.

"Your mother was a whole other story." A grin spread over Jiraiya's features as his gaze drifted over one of the spiral banners hanging from the Hokage tower. "Frightful temper that one; would sooner smack you around the head than actually hear you out. Possibly the most hyperactive person I have ever met and how your father tamed her is completely beyond me. Had this strange tick, tended to end any sentence where she was embarrassed or angry with 'dattebane', whatever the hell that meant." Naruto chuckled sheepishly; now rather glad Tayuya had been so strict about the way he spoke.

"Like your father though she was loyal, possibly more so; shouldn't be surprising from an Uzumaki but she placed family above everything else. It's only to be expected when you lose your home and clan but even through that she was strong." He smiled kindly as he looked down at Naruto. "The days when she was walking around with you still inside of her were the happiest of her life, a smile never left her face..." He coughed suddenly as he looked around with a blush "...well, except for one incident involving ramen but that's beside the point." The two of them lapsed back into silence as they continued to stare out over the village.

"They had a house you know, were going to raise you in it and everything. Minato was the last of his clan, he had escaped after a purge in Lightning Country and fled here and by the time they met Uzushiogakure had already started to fade in people's memories. They weren't rich and they didn't have a lot but when they bought it I swear I never saw a larger smile on your father's face. I know that Suna is your home but..." He routed around in his robe's pocket for a moment before withdrawing a key and throwing it over to the blonde "...it's yours now."

Naruto just stared down at the key; this was it, his inheritance, everything his parents had left him in life in a small brass object. His hand trembled ever so slightly as he closed his fingers around the key before slipping it into a pocket on his coat.

"Thanks." Jiraiya just nodded, patting Naruto on the shoulder as he stood up, stretching off his aching joints.

"I'll always be there if you need me kid, oh, and if you want to know more about your dad speak to Kakashi, Minato was his sensei. As for your mother, I'm sure she had a genin team but their names escape me, I'm sure you'll find out if you ask around." He smirked "Look for sword users, your mother was famous for her kenjutsu." He turned and started to leave, intending to give the blonde some privacy to think before Naruto almost slapped his head in idiocy.

"Oh Jiraiya wait, I almost forgot to ask you something." The Sannin paused, turning back to his student's son curiously while Naruto scrabbled to his feet. "I wanted to ask you about the key to my seal." Jiraiya's brows furrowed in concentration as he was pulled out of his nostalgia, becoming much more serious.

"What about it?" Naruto just smirked; he knew the man had a reason to be defensive around the only thing keeping the Kyuubi at bay.

"I would like to have it." Jiraiya's eyebrows made a very good attempt to breach his hairline as he stared at Naruto in surprise and confusion.

"Why would you want something like that? It wouldn't be wise to start tampering with your seal Naruto, no matter how far you have come in the sealing arts." Naruto just smiled kindly, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Nothing so irresponsible." He heard a chuckle inside his head.

"_**Liar." **_Naruto's smile twitched a little on the outside which Jiraiya might've noticed if he wasn't still a little shocked.

"_Whose side are you on?" _The chuckling stopped suddenly.

"_**Good point kit." **_By now Jiraiya seemed to have recovered and was scrutinising Naruto all over, mulling the request over in his head before he sighed.

"Fine." Naruto's eyes opened a little wider, he hadn't expected it to be that easy; in fact he had expected to use more than a few bottles of sake and a trip to a brothel before he got the key.

"Really?" Jiraiya just nodded with an amused expression on his face from seeing Naruto's surprise.

"I don't see why not, I'm not going to be around for ever so I can't have the key getting lost with me now can I? Plus, the idea that I wouldn't let you carry the key almost feels like an insult to your father's sealing skills. If he said that the seal was iron-tight then I inclined to believe him without question." Naruto just beamed while Jiraiya mentally sighed again. _'Maybe this isn't such a good idea.' _With a small mental shrug he ran through a few hand seals and slammed his palms into the ground.

With no small amount of surprise Naruto watched as a large scroll-like object stretched itself out of Jiraiya's opened mouth. His surprise turned to curiosity as he noticed the scroll had a head and some feet, and the fact it was about six feet long, and floating. He realised it was a toad, a very stretched out toad that's midsection seemed to be an actual scroll, bringing to question how such a thing was even physically possible.

"Jiraiya, it's been a while. What's the big idea summoning me...?" The toad looked around, staring at the blonde haired boy who simply stared right back. "What's the meaning of this Jiraiya? I contain the seal to that kid's eight trigram's seal; don't you understand how dangerous it is to have a key so close to its lock?" Jiraiya just smiled fondly at the worried toad.

"There is no trouble Geratora, I have summoned you because it is time for Naruto to inherit his legacy. All of it." The toad narrowed his eyes at Naruto, sizing the blonde up before turning back to Jiraiya.

"You can't be serious Jiraiya. The kid's barely seventeen at the most, there's no way he can handle the responsibility of having the key to his own seal. I bet that as soon as he has it he goes off tinkering with it, no doubt releasing the fox and killing himself in the process." Naruto felt a cold drop of sweat roll down his neck as he chuckled sheepishly.

"Really Geratora, there's no need for the mistrust. I have faith in young Naruto, he'll take good care of the seal." The toad just crossed his arms over his chest as his suddenly shrank down, the scroll disappearing into his belly.

"Why doesn't the kid just sign the toad contract? Then we could keep a hold of it and he could summon us if he needed the seal for whatever reason." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the stubborn toad, he was getting in the way of his plans; no way would he let Naruto tamper with the seal in the way he wanted to. Jiraiya just turned around, looking at Naruto tiredly; the day had dragged on enough as it was already.

"Would you consider that Naruto? I don't know if you already have a summoning contract but the toads are excellent summons. If it makes any difference your father was also a summoner and I'm sure 'Bunta' would love to meet the son of Minato." Naruto smiled kindly but shook his head slowly.

"I'm sorry Jiraiya but while I respect my father I have no intention of becoming his clone. I have to live my own life and forge my own path, find strength through my own means instead of blindly following in his footsteps." It sounded slightly hypocritical considering two of his main techniques were the Rasengan and a form of the Hiraishin but he didn't know back then so he wasn't really at fault. Jiraiya just nodded his head in understanding before turning back to the toad.

"I thought as much, that leaves you no choice Geratora, the seal belongs to Naruto, it is his birthright." The clearly disgruntled toad just looked between the two again with narrowed eyes.

"Fine, but know that I'm not happy about this. If the kid manages to blow himself up and unleash the Kyuubi on the world again then know that I'm not to blame." He sprang back up to his original height and Naruto watched in some wonder as his chest unravelled into a very large scroll, revealing one of the most complex and beautiful seals Naruto had ever seen. Jiraiya pulled the large scroll off his own back, pulling a slightly smaller one out of it before he ran through some hand seals, pressing a chakra-laced hand on Geratora's opened belly.

Immediately the ink of the seal began to writhe around on the page before it moved as one body, draining itself into the scroll Jiraiya had provided. It was over in a few moments and after checking the new scroll to see if the transfer was successful, because Kami help them if it wasn't, he handed it over to Naruto. The blonde quickly slung it around his shoulders, letting it hang diagonally across his back by the large shoulder strap along its length.

"Take good care of that kid. If it gets into the wrong hands... suffice to say it won't end well." Naruto nodded with a small smile as the two turned and departed from one another. With a sigh that only spoke of annoyance Geratora bobbed along after Jiraiya, knowing that no good could come from what he had allowed to happen. Naruto on the other hand had to hide a small gleeful smile as he walked away, lightly patting the large scroll on his back.

'_Now we can get started.'_

* * *

The alarm clock to the right of the bed Naruto and Tayuya were sharing blared out as the timer on it reached seven o'clock. It was promptly smashed into many tiny fragments as a kunai soared through the air, splintering the annoying device while Naruto and Tayuya both groaned. Naruto tried to pull his head under the pillow to break the early morning sunlight trying to blind him while Tayuya just pulled Naruto, attempting the same manoeuvre. Both were dead tired, Naruto had been examining every aspect of the key into the wee hours of the morning before joining Tayuya in some more amorous activities.

Of course this meant that neither had gotten more than three or four hours of sleep leading to one very irate kunoichi and one incredibly weary shinobi. Finally Naruto managed to pull himself out from under his pillow long enough to wrap up Tayuya in a warm hug before sliding out of the bed. He padded along the floor and due to his training which he found difficult to turn off, he was perfectly silent. He stepped into the steaming waters of the shower and sighed as the hot water melted out the aches in his body.

He nearly jumped as he felt a set of small but strong arms wrap around his torso before long wet red hair brushed against his back and he smiled. He turned around to see Tayuya grinning like a maniac, completely naked as hot water ran down her body, perfectly managing to accent her various wondrous curves. Naruto might have commented on the beauty he was seeing before him but he figured showing his appreciation was more in order and quickly caught the wet kunoichi in a searing kiss, hotter than the water flowing around them.

Tayuya deepened the kiss, moaning into the contact as she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feel of Naruto's smooth body pressed up against her. Naruto did the same, loving the feel of a set of very firm and slippery breasts push up against his stomach like slick pillows. However they quickly learned that the shower, while seemingly romantic and exciting for a young couple, was not the perfect place to get intimate. They quickly found themselves in a heap on the bottom of the bath after Tayuya slipped, taking Naruto with her as he was unable to catch her on the slippery surface.

When both checked that they hadn't managed to injure themselves they broke out into a fit of laughter, now thoroughly woken up. Deciding that the bottom of the bath was just as good they quickly resumed their make out session, sliding around on the porcelain as they laughed between every kiss. A good ten minutes later they both emerged damp, smiling and happy, no longer caring how early they had woken up.

They got changed into their usual gear before making a beeline for the door of their hotel room, they still had yet to see Anko and Hana and were looking forward to it. Before they left Naruto quickly doubled back, grabbing the key he had hidden under the bed before slinging it over his back like before. He really had to find a better way of carrying it around but for now the strap around the shoulder would do. After checking up on Gaara and Matsuri and wishing a good morning to Fuu who promptly threw them out of her room to go back to sleep before they took to the rooftops, arriving at Anko's apartment in less than a minute.

Naruto quickly knocked, hoping that Anko wasn't sick this time, after all he had good news for her, news he thought she would definitely appreciate. To their surprise it was actually Hana who opened the door, looking over the two strangely as she scrutinised the somewhat familiar pair. Suddenly her mind added in a quiet red haired boy in next to them and her eyes opened wide in recognition.

"Naruto? Tayuya?" The blonde jinchuuriki smiled brightly, glad that his former-sensei, however brief, remembered him.

"In the flesh." Hana smiled brightly before ushering the two of them in.

"Anko, you have guests!" They all heard an irritated grumbling coming from around the corner of the apartment as the three shared a chuckle at the typical Anko behaviour. The two of them may have only had Anko and Hana as sensei for a brief period but it was suffice to say that they left a great impact with the chuunin.

"Man, when Anko said you guys had changed I didn't think she meant so much. You guys look really grown up." A smirk overcame her face "And I hear the relationship has been going strong, you guys seal the deal yet?" Naruto and Tayuya just sweat-dropped at the question, wondering why everyone they visited asked them that. Luckily they were saved from answering as an irate and frustrated Anko turned the corner and stormed up to them. Whatever ailment plagued her immediately melted away as she took in the familiar faces.

"Oh hey Gaki, good to know that the last time you visited wasn't all some illness-addled hallucination." Everybody chuckled before Anko ushered them in with her hands and like a few months ago they all sat down on the couch with Naruto once again pressed up against Anko on one side and Tayuya on the other as Hana took to Tayuya's other side.

"It's good to see you Anko-sensei, Hana-sensei." Both women nodded before Anko delightedly perked up.

"Alright, spill. You've been gone two years, we want to know everything." So the two of them did just that, they explained their training, skimping over the parts that would make it long and boring, while Tayuya told them of her spying and Naruto of his adventures, as well as Fuu. Anko and Hana seemed a little upset they didn't get to meet Fuu but Naruto simply told them she had wanted to stay in her room this morning. Next they moved onto their reunion and the subsequent attack from Akatsuki, shocking both women as Naruto recounted his fights.

He moved onto their mission in the Land of Water, telling them of the fight with the Sanbi as well as his saving of Guren and Yukimaru. Finally they ended with their fights with Kakuzu and Hidan where even Naruto was a little surprised. Tayuya had told him about her fight but he had never quite heard the full story and to say he was proud of his girlfriend was an understatement. He was smiling so brightly by the time she was done it almost hurt to look at. Lastly he turned his attention back to the girls, but mostly Anko.

"There was another reason we went to the Land of Water, we needed information about Sasuke Uchiha." The two Jounin stared at him oddly, wondering what Naruto could want with the Uchiha traitor. "It was because of his curse mark." Anko immediately reached for her own on reflex before realising what she was doing and stopping herself. That was when she noticed something about Tayuya that she should have probably seen straight away.

"Your mark changed!" Tayuya smiled softly before it became a grin of pride as she looked over at Naruto, forcing Anko's gaze to follow her. "Y-You..." Naruto just nodded before he saw Anko begin to tear up. "And you c-could... for me?" he nodded again, this time more slowly as he thought very carefully about his next words, remembering the way Tayuya had reacted.

"Umm, there is a catch though." Tayuya just went red in the face while Anko leaned forward even more, not really caring about the price as long as her curse mark was gone.

* * *

Jiraiya sat up high in a tall tree, surveying the area around him like the master spy he was, even if it was for less than noble reasons. Below him in the large but shallow river where a waterfall gently trickled were a few very skimpily dressed women splashing around. A small trickle of blood was slowly making its way out of Jiraiya's nose as he completely took in the scene, furiously writing in the notebook he always carried. In his mind a new plot for his latest masterpiece was already in the works as a cry rang out through the village.

"I HAVE TO BE WHAT?!" Jiraiya smiled, glad that for once he wasn't the one on the end of a woman's wrath, that was until he lost his concentration and slipped from the tree; right into the middle of the frolicking women. There was a small pause as everybody looked at him and time seemed to freeze before a woman screamed.

"PERVERT!" Jiraiya fell to unconsciousness not too long after, a smile on his beaten face.

* * *

Anko stood up in the cold, dungeon-like room, rubbing her neck with a look somewhere between shock and disbelief. The smooth skin in the area was now noticeably free of any marks, save for the two healing bite marks that had stopped leaking blood a few moments ago. She was wrapped up in a large sheet, her clothes being shed before the process had begun so that Naruto could write out the appropriate seals on her body. When she had asked if anybody else could do it he had simply responded they could have but to be sure they were done properly only he or Jiraiya could apply them.

Taking the lesser of two evils Anko had decided that Naruto was her best option after all; after reminding him that if he ogled her then Tayuya was going to be very disappointed the next time they became intimate. Taking her warning to heart Naruto hadn't even looked at Anko's generous assets, focusing entirely on the task at hand, much to the purple-haired jonin's appreciation. Now that it was over Anko just didn't know what to think, the dull ache that had pervade her life for nearly two decades was gone, just like that.

Acting on an instinct she had long thought repressed or forgotten she suddenly jumped at Naruto, wrapping him up in what can only be described as a mega-glomp. Naruto actually felt his had crack a little from the force of colliding with the ground with a 100-something pound woman straddling his body. Before he knew it Anko had delivered a large wet kiss straight to his lips, wrapped him up in an enormous hug before running out of the room, yelling for joy and heading straight to Hana to tell her the good news.

Anko had admittedly been intrigued by Naruto's proposal of altering her seal to make it more powerful and less harmful. However in the end it would just hold far too many bad memories, memories better left buried and forgotten where she couldn't feel their pain anymore. So Naruto had completely removed her seal, which proved significantly easier than Tayuya's due to its earlier design and the lack of her activating its version two form.

Naruto got up in a daze, wiping his mouth of what remained of Anko's kiss, now very glad that Tayuya hadn't come with him to the sealing, opting to stay with Hana and catch up more. Naruto had taken that to mean they wanted to talk about things where he was not welcome and didn't object. He walked out of the dungeon, a small smile on his face at remembering how happy Anko looked. He turned in the street, heading towards where he expected Fuu to be. He hadn't really seen all that much of her lately so he figured he would go and spend the day with her, just the two of them.

* * *

Fuu giggled happily, acting like the child Naruto had found her as, although significantly happier now thanks to her brother. She rode atop his shoulders, clutching the candied apple in her hand that Naruto had bought from a vendor as they walked through the streets. She noticed the people staring at Naruto or sometimes outright glaring at him but she also saw him ignore them so she followed suit. The two jinchuuriki wandered aimlessly through Konoha; there seemed to be some kind of small festival going on so they tried their hands at a few stall games.

Being a shinobi village the stalls were suitably beefed up, although they were still easy enough that a genin stood somewhat of a chance at winning if he was lucky enough. There was one stall where the player had to hit targets with shuriken, easy enough if you discounted the stall owner using mid-level wind jutsu to knock the projectiles askew. However when Naruto had taken his turn he waited until the man used his jutsu before subtly attaching a single chakra thread to the shuriken, putting it back on course to land in the dead centre of the target.

Fuu now rode his shoulders, proudly clutching an enormous stuffed wolf, a toy that looked like something the Inuzuka would give to their ninken as a chew toy. He looked up at her beaming face with a smile, remembering a similar situation he had shared with Tayuya so many years ago now, although in this case Fuu was in no hurry to give away her prize to a passing kid. Naruto didn't blame her, without a real childhood he could see the girl clinging to anything that brought the two of them closer as a 'family'.

He barely noticed as the two of them began to move further towards the outskirts of the town, just following the random directions of Fuu as she just pointed in any direction. When he even realised how far they had gone he was already on the edge of the training grounds, noting the sign that warded civilians from the area in case of stray weapons or jutsu. He was about to turn back to the village when the sounds of fighting broke out through the trees before once again being muffled by the surroundings.

His curiosity piqued at the chance of perhaps seeing a decent spar or maybe picking up a new technique he slowly made his way through the forest in the direction of the sound. However it was strange, it was as if the closer he got to the disturbance, the quieter it would get, even to his impressive hearing he was having difficulties picking up the subtle clashes of metal that spoke of a weapons fight. Finally they emerged into a large training ground, obviously designed for the purpose of testing large or powerful techniques, except there was nobody there.

It was only his lifetime's worth of training and honing his combat instincts that gave him the time to quickly throw Fuu out of the way before twisting his body impossibly to escape the large, familiar bandaged mass that would have cleaved his body apart otherwise. He back flipped away, taking in the man he particularly did not want to see right now, or ever really. Sharpened, shark-like teeth smiled maliciously at him as the large man they belonged to casually leaned on the enormous mass that was his sword.

"Hey brat; long time no see." Kisame Hoshigake smiled confidently at the ever so slightly panicking chuunin before him. Naruto was no slouch when it came to fighting; he had beaten enemies more powerful than himself numerous times before. However there was a difference between being confident in your abilities and suicide and now was such a time. Naruto was proud of the progress he had made in his time but if all of that had taught him one thing, it was that he would not be the winner of this fight.

Kisame was his better in strength, kenjutsu, close-range fighting, and probably tactics as well given his former status as the leader of the seven swordsmen of the mist. He also had a larger range of jutsu in his arsenal and a chakra reserve that could literally compare to that of a biju, earning him the nickname the tail-less beast. Not to mention his blasted sword which could literally suck the chakra from his body. Somehow the believed his strategy that had worked against Shino all that time ago wouldn't work now; Samehada was a hungry sword.

"Fuu, get out of here now!" The young girl was looking at the blue skinned man, knowing full well who he was and what he was capable of. She almost didn't hear her brother call out but managed at the last second to unleash her wings to make a desperate attempt to get away from the fight where she was woefully outclassed. However before she could do so a strong hand grasped her foot, pulling her firmly back down to the earth. She twisted in her captors grasp until she looked around, straight up at the three-tomoe Sharingan of Itachi Uchiha.

"Hello Naruto, it's been a while."


	56. Chapter 56

Naruto stared helplessly across to Fuu, firmly in the hands of Itachi who didn't seem to be letting go anytime soon. He shook with frustration; there was nothing he could do for her, not with two powerful S-ranked shinobi in the way, both of which were beyond his abilities. He controlled himself, although his balled-up fists were still shaking slightly with anger as he turned around to face Kisame. The shark-like man grinned right at him, basking in the sheer anger and hopelessness of his opponent before him.

"Thanks kid, you have no idea how annoying it's been to track down the Nanabi there. But what do you know, we come to check up on you and guess what? She's right there." His smiled his toothy grin, the pointed teeth that made up all the swordsmen's mouth glinting in the sunlight. Naruto felt so furious and helpless, he knew no help would be coming for them, they were in a training ground after all, any signs of a fight would be passed off as a spar.

"IF YOU HURT FUU I'LL... I'LL..." Kisame's smile slowly became a low smirk as he lifted Samehada up off the ground from where he was resting on it. With a flick of his wrist the great sword burst from its wrappings, the entire length of the spiky blade revealed to the open skies.

"Or you'll what brat?" Naruto's fists were so tightly clenched he began to feel blood drip from where his hidden claws dug into his palm, the wounds healing almost as quickly as they were made. With a deep breath to calm himself he moved a hand to rest over his thigh before he channelled chakra into the seal he had placed there, one of the earliest in his career. There was a burst of smoke and when it cleared Naruto stood firmly, holding onto the massive length of Kubikiribocho, the sever sword of Zabuza Momochi. Kisame narrowed his eyes at the sight of the massive butcher knife before an even more malicious smile spread across his features.

"I had heard Zabuza died a while back. Kiri's been searching for that sword high and low, Kiba too. You got them in there as well?" He said it with a smirk but when Naruto just shrugged his eyes narrowed even further. "I may have abandoned the Swordsmen the day I betrayed Kirigakure but for you to be holding that sword is a disgrace. I'll make sure you lose both hands for even thinking of touching it."

Kisame chose that moment to charge at blinding speeds towards the blonde, Samehada brought back around him for a sweeping blow that Naruto only narrowly blocked by bringing the enormous sword around. It was heavy, weighing at least eighty pounds but Naruto had gone through a lot of strength training and it felt no heavier than a normal katana to him. However he was no kenjutsu master, swinging Kiba around while facing a taijutsu or even ninjutsu-based opponent was one thing.

Holding one of the blades of the Seven Swordsmen certainly did not make him one, a fact Kisame decided to drill that lesson painfully into Naruto with each crippling blow he dealt. Using his inherent speed and strength Naruto was able to block or dodge well enough; making sure that Samehada never touched his skin even once. However the difference in ability between the two was staggering. Whereas Naruto was just barely bringing the massive blade around in time Kisame was practically dancing around any pitiful attempts at a counterattack he made.

Finally Kisame grew slightly irritated and using a powerful blow he pushed Samehada right through Kubikiribocho, dicing the centre of the blade into many pieces. Despite having just destroyed one of its brothers the sharkskin sword was smiling insanely, tasting the air of battle and breathing in the delicious scent of Naruto's chakra so close by. Kisame had no intention of disappointing his sword and brought his blade around again before Naruto even realised his was broken.

Acting on battle-honed instincts alone Naruto kicked off the ground, pushing himself up over the toothy blade even as he released his grip on Zabuza's former sword. Kisame wasn't so easily dodged though and before he even finished his swing he delivered a powerful and debilitating kick into Naruto's midsection. Naruto, unable to ground himself and defend against the attack, was launched across the training ground, creating a small trench through the earth as he landed. Kisame smiled as Naruto staggered to his feet, wiping the dirt he had collected off of his coat.

He shrugged off the large red coat; it would hinder him more than help him in this fight, so that he was left in just his burnt orange shirt and mesh under-shirt. Before he let the weighted jacket fall to the ground he unsealed the only thing he would need out of it for now, Hidan's large tri-bladed staff. In their fight he had found no way to break it, for now he hoped that would be true for Kisame as well. It was much lighter than Kubikiribocho so Naruto could swing it a bit more easily, which he was counting on.

With a burst of speed that would be impossible with the sever sword he shot forward, almost surprising the larger, heavier man. However Kisame had one thing that no amount of training or natural ability could give you, experience. He easily brought up his sword to defend from the attack Naruto brought from his rear before swinging it around in an almost lazy arc to cut off yet another crazed, but fast blow. Naruto had no real style with the weapon; almost like Hidan he just swung it with a righteous fury, relentless in his fast and powerful attacks.

However there was a reason Kisame was the top-seat swordsman of the Mist once, it meant he was one of the best kenjutsu users in the elemental nations. No amount of sloppy blows could breach his well-covered guard, no matter how surprisingly fast. You couldn't even see Naruto he was moving so quickly, delivering multiple blows to Samehada in seconds. The sword actually began to grow annoyed, Kisame did as well when he realised Samehada was unable to break the irritating weapon for some reason.

Naruto quickly backed away though, he realised what he was doing was hopeless and foolhardy. Kisame was too good at kenjutsu and this was using more energy that Kisame needed to defend. No war of attrition could be won here, not against a man with the chakra reserves Kisame possessed. Naruto backed off, sealing away the scythe for now as he reconsidered his options; he sighed before he unsealed as many of his kunai as he could hold before scattering them across the battlefield. Despite the fearsome and powerful technique he had just unveiled Kisame looked nothing more than amused.

"Hoping to catch me by surprise with the Hiraishin brat? Sorry to disappoint but thanks to your stunt with Tobi we all know about that little move." Naruto cursed, he hoped the element of surprise would at least be with him. Before he could capitalize on anything Kisame raised a hand to his mouth in a seal that Naruto knew from his file.

"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" Kisame spat out thousands of gallons of water, flooding the battlefield, putting him right in his element even as the jutsu washed away the kunai Naruto had scattered, rendering his technique null. Naruto cursed again, louder this time as Kisame smirked; quickly he empowered his legs with chakra before jumping up and overt the monstrous wave of water, landing on its surface skillfully. Kisame looked like he had another taunt but as a veteran shinobi he knew when to take advantages and quickly pressed his hand against the water.

"Water Style: Five Feeding Sharks!" Five sharks comprised of Kisame's chakra materialised under the water, glowing a pale blue as they shot through the newly formed lake. Naruto had to dive to the side as one of them shot up and out of the water, its jaws aiming for his arm. That pushed him right into the path of another which forced him to spring back on his hands, avoiding losing his leg this time. He dashed across the surface of the water but as fast as he could run, the sharks could keep up, just below the flowing waters.

One leapt up from the water behind him and he swivelled to punch it squarely in the nose. However it simply dissolved before reforming again, right back under water as it took to pursuing him like the others. Naruto narrowed his eyes even as he ran, the metaphorical cogs in his brain turning like crazy even as he whipped out a large scroll from nowhere, furiously scribbling as he ran. Kisame only laughed as he increased the chakra flow into his jutsu making the sharks speed up considerably. At the edge of the newly formed lake Itachi watched on impassively, holding the still struggling Fuu steady as he tried to see what it was Naruto was doing.

Finally he was finished and altered his course, using a shark that had leapt out of the water as a stepping stone to flip himself out of the water. In mid-air he created a clone before throwing him the scroll, both landed back on the surface, splitting off in different directions. Immediately the first Naruto charged up a rasengan in his hand, reminding himself to finish the training so that he could do it without clutching his wrist. Kisame once again smirked as he finally released the shark jutsu, standing up again as he grabbed Samehada off his back.

Swirling chakra vortex met sentient sword as an awful grinding sound could be heard, unfortunately the rasengan didn't do much before the spiny sword drank it in, growing larger as it did so. Kisame could only grin as he thrust his blade forward, intent on raking the blonde's chest apart, only to see the Naruto in front of him burst into smoke. He whirled, expecting an attack that never came; however when he looked around for the real Naruto he couldn't see him, at least until he spotted the bubbles pop on the surface of the water.

He looked down to see Naruto furiously swimming downwards, scroll in his mouth as he kicked and thrashed furiously to increase his pace. _'The kid's a moron, he actually went underwater.' _Without wasting much time Kisame bent down again and placed his hand against the surface, quickly reforming the sharks again. The school chased after Naruto as he swam lower and lower into the water, his bubbles of breath becoming fewer and further between. As it was he hadn't left himself enough time to actually swim back out again before he would pass out.

With the chakra constructs right behind him he gave one last oxygen-deprived kick before his hand touched the floor. Quickly he unsealed the scroll and pressed it firmly into the floor before passing chakra through it. His vision was blurring from the lack of air but his eyes crinkled into a smirk as the water around the scroll began to warp and swirl. He watched through closing eyes as the entirety of the lake began to drain into the special sealing scroll he had made, sharks included. Soon he was allowed to flop to the floor on a very soggy training ground as Kisame simply seethed; not liking that he had lost his element in this fight.

"What the hell did you do brat!" Naruto weakly got to his feet, drinking in the air like it was sake and he could get drunk. He chuckled, regaining his strength slowly as his muscles began to receive oxygen again, the damage done being quickly repaired.

"I made a sealing scroll, made it extra big and removed the restrictions for sealing one object at a time; I call it the plughole seal." He laughed weakly at the joke before being thrown across the field by Kisame's punch. He impacted into a tree before woozily getting to his feet; he just managed to flit to a nearby kunai that hadn't been washed too far away before Kisame could repeat the movement with his sword. He was just so outclassed in this fight it wasn't even funny, he could only watch as Kisame came barrelling down on him, sword up and at the ready to rip a limb off.

What he wasn't expecting was for the sword to suddenly impact with a massive wall of sand, quickly intercepting the blow. Samehada still sunk through but it was slowed long enough for a set of arms to wrap around Naruto before taking off with him. He was set down on the branch of a nearby tree only so that he could look up at the softly smiling face of Gaara. Without saying a word his friend stood up and disappeared down to the field in a swirl of sand, standing before Kisame fearlessly.

"Hey, I remember you sand brat, Samehada does too and he's been waiting so long for another taste of your chakra." Gaara remained silent, his arms crossed over his chest as they always were unless necessity called for him to move. He knew this would be a hard fight but the man before him had hurt Naruto, Gaara would not let that stand. "Itachi, you maybe wanna hop in here? Deal with the Kyuubi maybe?" The sharingan user coldly turned to the shark-like man, his eyes spinning impassively.

"I believe I will let you handle this Kisame. Is this not the fight you have been talking about for over two years now?" Kisame narrowed his eyes at his so-called 'partner'; he was just scared after what the Kyuubi had done to him last time. Grimacing he turned back to Gaara, the stoic sand user still not having moved in this time.

"I hope you have something new for me this time kid, if I remember right your 'ultimate defence' didn't like Samehada's bite all that much." If he was hoping for a reaction from the young Kazekage he was disappointed, as it was he simply raised his sword and charged the boy. Like he predicted the swing was met by sand, and like he also predicted the chakra holding the sand together was quickly absorbed, letting it fall uselessly to the ground.

"I hope you have better than that kid, at this rate you're not going to have enough sand left to cover a senbon." Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly as his arms became unfolded, an action not many people had lived to see in a fight with him.

"I am Gaara no Subaku, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure. The sands are my home and my protector, where I go, the desert follows." And like that an enormous explosion of sand erupted from Gaara's body as the many, many seals that littered his body poured out their contents. The clearing was very quickly transformed into a miniature desert, much in the same way as Kisame's own jutsu had shifted the environment in his favour before. However this was slightly different as all of this sand was infused with Gaara's chakra, not just the usual amount in his gourd.

"Seals are rather useful are they not?" Kisame scowled as a tentacle of sand burst up from under him, attempting to wrap around his neck and choke him. It was swiftly cut down, but not before three more took its place like the mythical hydra. On all sides Kisame was forced to dodge and block as arm-like whips of sand threatened to dice him apart or push him under where he could be crushed. Gaara had returned his arms to their natural place as he directed the sand with nothing but thoughts, transmitting his very will through every grain that was still connected to him by chakra.

Kisame was actually finding himself quite hard-pressed all of a sudden, despite his sword devouring the chakra in the sand; it still maintained its momentum when it struck. He was lucky that the sand was relatively light or the blows might have begun to get serious; of course he only jinxed himself with that thought. Immediately the ground around him erupted on itself as yellow was replaced by deadly black. Realising the danger he was in he flung himself back before the prison of iron sand collapsed on where he had been standing.

Gaara now stood with his hand outstretched, having to exert himself more to manipulate the complex magnetic fields around the iron sand he attempted to control. Far from his fight with Sasori his skill at manipulating the deadly black cloud had increased dramatically as he dedicated the past months to training in it and it alone. While he still had to strain slightly the cost on his chakra was reduced and his ability to control the sand had dramatically increased, especially considering he wasn't fighting against another magnet-release user.

He wasted no time in turning the newly mobile iron sand around and assaulting Kisame with it, the attacks now coming in with much more force than before as he heard them screech against the blade. With one hand he manipulated the deadly black cloud while the other hung to his side, only slightly twitching back and forth in what could be described as minute hand movements. Kisame was growing increasingly aggravated, throwing his sword around more wildly to end the sand that tried to crash into him. It was like he was fighting against the third Kazekage himself, only as a jinchuuriki that also could control the sands to defend himself.

Kisame grew tired of being put on the defensive but when he tried to create a seal-less water clone he found there to be no available water to use. Gaara's impromptu desert sucked all the moisture from the air; even now Kisame felt the dry heat begin to affect him while Gaara remained unchanged. The attacks continued relentlessly from all sides, most of the time from multiple directions at once. For the first time in a long time Kisame found himself genuinely exerting himself in a fight, one that he was actually finding difficult.

His face set into a grim and determined mask, one that had only ever adorned his face in his old spars with his fellow swordsmen. His cocky attitude was gone as his feet naturally assumed a stance that he hadn't used in years, although he still trained it to perfection. Suddenly the swings of his sword grew faster, more controlled and not a single grain of sand, iron or not, came within three feet of him. His eyes narrowed as he continued to defend against the relentless assault, actually seething with anger at having to assume his old style.

He began moving forward, still blocking or cutting down any and all attacks that came near him while picking up speed. The sand at his feet tried to wrap around him but he either swung his blade down to get rid of it of applied chakra to his feet to quickly jump out of the way. Gaara still hadn't moved for the entirety of the fight and didn't look like he was even going to attempt to dodge the attack that was now coming for him. Kisame slashed his blade down one more time, cutting right through the automatic defence as if it weren't even there.

Finally he allowed a smirk to grace his lips as his teeth set back into a toothy grin, only to vanish as he felt a stinging sensation through his back. The Kazekage in front of him disintegrated, slowly as to mock him even further for his critical error. He turned with a snarl only to receive a similar sting on his chest, the blow coming faster than he could follow it. He looked down, surprised to find a large gash across the front of his robes, slowly leaking blood in large rivulets. He blinked a few times before looking across at Gaara, still in that same pose, staring impassively.

"Gold dust: A thousand phantom blades." He saw a flash of gold and felt his grip on his sword loosen; he looked down to see a similar slash now adorning his arm, before he received yet another to his leg. Quickly his entire body was littered with tiny, inconsequential cuts that alone he could have completely ignored. However now the blood ran down every part of his body, weakening him as he dropped to a knee, his muscles sluggish and unresponsive. He felt Samehada shift in his hand but already he couldn't properly close his hand around the mighty blade.

The sharkskin sword dropped to the sand which Gaara made sure was free of his chakra so that it wouldn't grow any more powerful. Kisame tried to struggle to his feet but the gold dust hadn't stopped yet; the fine powder, moving so fast that it was nothing more than a flash of light, cut his body to shreds. Breathing became difficult as his vision began to swim, his mind was refusing to give up until the end but it had lost all power over his body. His hand twitched as he made a last ditch attempt to reach for his sword, currently the only thing that could save him.

"Samehada." He was only met with another flash of gold before he knew darkness. Gaara watched that mighty swordsman drop to the sand, lifeless and immobile; he wasn't the only one watching. Samehada cried out in sorrow for its fallen master, its wail reaching the ears of everybody nearby. Gaara looked around, surprised that Itachi had done nothing to help his dying companion, looked at him across the desert he had created. Naruto dropped down to his side out of nowhere, looked better but not fully recovered.

He bent down, sliding Kisame's ring from his ringer before sliding it onto his left hand before looking across at Itachi. In a flurry of crows the black-haired man appeared in front of them, a knocked-out Fuu dangling over his shoulder like a sack of vegetables. Naruto just snarled at him, hoping he still had enough in him to help Gaara take the man down, knowing he wouldn't be foolish enough to try a Tsukuyomi on them again.

"Give Fuu back!" To their shock the young Uchiha prodigy simply nodded, dropping the mint-haired girl down to the sands. They rose up to meet her before carrying her over to where Gaara and Naruto were standing. Naruto narrowed his eyes, wondering what Itachi was planning as he searched the man's face for deceit, staying away from his eyes. He watched as he rose up one hand making both boys tense in anticipation of an attack. However the man only slipped off the ring on his finger before gently setting it on the ground.

"The end of the Akatsuki is coming soon, I would prefer to be alive to see it. It is not your place to kill me as that right belongs to my brother and him alone. Only he can cleanse my soul of the many atrocities I have committed. After this day we shall never see one another again, do not come looking for me." And without anything more needed to be said he disappeared as his body dissolved into a murder of crows, each taking off in a different direction.

Naruto stood still for another few moments, expecting the surprise attack that never came; Itachi was true to his word and had vanished completely. After a few more moments of hesitation Naruto crept over to the ring and picked it up, not sure what to expect. He turned the red ring around in his hands; it reflected the light in the sun for a moment before he slipped it next to Kisame's. Only four of his fingers remained empty, four more Akatsuki to kill.

He turned to Gaara with a confused expression and the sand-wielder merely shrugged. Sighing because he didn't understand what was going on he walked over to where Fuu lay peacefully on the sand. He checked her over for any sign of injury but it seemed Itachi had knocked her out with a powerful genjutsu, knowing Chomei she would be waking in only a few minutes. He stood up, walking over to Kisame's body again before calmly examining the man.

His eye was drawn to the immense sword that had fallen to his side; he reached down to pick it up by the hilt only to pull his hand back before spikes could impale his palm. He looked down at the sword curiously, even as he could feel it snarling at him in anger. He sighed before went about sealing the sword away, for once he would return the blade to Kiri, knowing that he would never be able to wield it. He looked around the battlefield one last time before Gaara returned the sands to his body, making sure to grab the remains of Kubikiribocho and hauling Fuu into his arms.

"Can't get a normal day can we?"

* * *

Naruto and Gaara made their way through the streets of Konoha, now slowly emptying of people as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Worryingly Fuu had not woken from her position in Naruto's arms but she stirred ever so often so he assumed she was merely asleep. He would let her sleep for now but first thing in the morning he would be checking to make sure Itachi didn't do anything to her. He returned his attention to the street they were walking down, absently noting the few stalls and vendors closing down for the night before he turned his head to face his friend.

"How did you find us and how did you know we were in trouble?" Gaara cracked a small smile as he continued to walk on down the street, not breaking stride for a moment.

"It was getting too quiet, that meant you were either with Tayuya or in trouble, seeing as Tayuya was with my wife I made the next logical assumption." He smirked again even as Naruto pouted at the way he said it. "As for finding you, don't think that you are the only one of us who keeps a tabs on their friends." He motioned to the general area of the seal Naruto had placed on him unknowingly before plucking a single grain of sand off of Naruto's coat with a smile.

"I'm not always in trouble." Gaara just stared at him in bemusement.

"Not when you have your friends to get you out of it, no." Naruto pouted again but it quickly dissolved into a tired smile, his body still ached from trying to fight Kisame and his lungs burned from oxygen deprivation despite all Kurama was doing to heal them.

"So what do we do now? Akatsuki is down to four members, Tobi, Zetsu, Konan, and Pein. Should we try and go after them?" Gaara seemed thoughtful even though his expression didn't change. Naruto had learned how to read the subtle movements in his friend's eyes that told him more than any words could express.

"No, they are weakened right now. At best they will draw back to recuperate and lick their wounds, at worst they will attempt something foolish and draw attention to themselves. That either gives us time or an opportunity, both of which are welcome. We will continue to do as we have been doing, waiting, training, and preparing. Sooner or later they will have to come to us." Naruto nodded grimly, he didn't really like the idea of just letting Akatsuki recover but really there wasn't all that much they could do about it.

Beyond physical descriptions and somewhat limited knowledge of their abilities, both non-existent in the case of Pein and apparently Tobi now, they still knew next to nothing about the organisation itself. They did not know its origins, its purpose or even where they were based, all of which could become critical information in the future. For now all they really could do was wait for them to try something and retaliate in turn.

When they reached the hotel he gently laid Fuu down in her bed, smiling as he pulled the covers up over her sleeping form. He knew that she loved sleeping next to him but with Tayuya back in his life he knew the girl he loved took priority, even if they were both the two most precious people to him. He crept out of the room silently before walking across the corridor to his own room, having already said goodnight to Gaara on the way in.

He snuck in, noting that the curtains were all drawn and the scent of dinner was slowly fading which meant Tayuya had been in. He peered around the doorway to the bedroom and sure enough she was sitting on the bed, reading through a scroll. She enjoyed looking through various sheet music in her alone time however like fuinjutsu to her Naruto couldn't make sense of any of the seemingly random scribbles that danced across the pages on the strange bar-like lines. It didn't take her long to spot Naruto's rather obvious blonde hair poking around the door and she quickly set the scroll away.

"Hey Shithead, how was your day with little minty?" Naruto chuckled at the nickname as he walked further into the room, setting himself down on the bed next to her as she naturally snuggled up into his side.

"Eventful." She quirked an eyebrow before she noticed the new rings now adorning his previously empty left hand. Her eyes began to worry but Naruto was obviously safe and if something had happened to Fuu he wouldn't be managing a smile right now. Suddenly a pout made itself known on her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest in a huff.

"You got another two Akatsuki didn't you?" Naruto also raised an eyebrow, chuckling again at her tone.

"You make that sound like it's a bad thing?" Tayuya just grumbled to herself even as she pulled herself closer to the warm blonde next to her.

"You have all the fun; I only got one of them and I had to share him with two other girls." Naruto was actually attempting to hold back his laughter, just the fact that Tayuya could be petulant that she didn't get to face an incredibly dangerous enemy warmed him. He pulled her closer into his arms as they both began to slide down the headboard, getting into a more comfortable position on the bed.

"Fine then, I promise that the next one we face I'll leave to you." Tayuya just smiled happily before planting a surprising kiss on Naruto's lips and falling back into her previous position.

"Good." Naruto just smiled warmly before he let the exhaustion from the day finally catch up to him, quickly sending him into a light, but peaceful sleep.


	57. Chapter 57

For once there was rather lively conversation as the small group hopped through the trees, taking it rather slow compared with the speeds they were able to move. Fuu and Tayuya were chatting towards the back of the group, talking about inane things that they couldn't really discuss with Naruto. Gaara led the group, remaining quiet as a few things swirled around his mind, just waiting for his focus. Naruto bounced over the tree branches next to Matsuri, wanting to know more about her seeing as they hadn't really spoke all that much since he came back.

"So how come you weren't on a genin team?" Naruto had been curious about this; he knew Matsuri was still a genin so he wondered where her team was.

"Before we got engaged I was Gaara's apprentice. He picked me, or rather I picked him, straight from the academy. Usually that only happens to the best ninja in the academy. I still don't know why he took me on." Naruto just smiled, he could sense some insecurity from the girl.

"Maybe he just saw something in you, potential that he just needed to coax out." Matsuri offered a kind smile in return but it was obvious she doubted her own words.

"Maybe, but two years later and I'm still a genin." She chuckled to herself as she looked ahead at Gaara who was lost in thought. "How ironic right? A genin engaged to the Kazekage." Naruto put a hand on her shoulder even as they continued to hop.

"Have you taken the Chuunin Exams?" Matsuri shook her head slowly.

"Because I'm not in a team I haven't been eligible for the ones in Konoha, The one in Kumo was right after my graduation and the one in Iwa we can't go to because of our alliance with Konoha." Naruto nodded in understanding.

"This year is Suna right?" Matsuri nodded. "Then I'm sure you'll breeze past them, make Gaara proud." Matsuri offered another weak smile. "And if you need training and I'm around just ask and I'd be happy to help." Matsuri nodded and Naruto let up on his questions, he was beginning to sound like an interrogator. He let her leap ahead to where Gaara was, letting the two fiancées have some time together after everything that had happened in the leaf.

The sight of them together got him thinking as he glanced back at Tayuya, wondering if they would be ready for something like that. They loved each other; Naruto would die to protect her, he didn't really see any reason he couldn't propose but even so, it still felt too early. With everything that had been happening since he got back they hadn't had much time together. They hadn't even really been on a single real date in their entire relationship, nothing that would count anyway. He chuckled, now knowing what he would be doing when he got back to the village. Naruto turned to look at his redhead girlfriend again but managed to catch a flash of orange and black out of the periphery of his vision.

"Hold up!" he put up a hand that told everybody to stop on the branch they had been standing on as Naruto quickly looked in the direction he had seen the blur. He peered closer but couldn't see anything, he tried to sniff them out but all he got were the general smells of the forest. Leaping over to where he thought he saw... whatever it was, he still couldn't see anything at least no tracks or tell-tale signs that anybody had been following them. Tayuya jumped over to where he was, landing quietly as she too peered out into the darkening forest.

"What did you see?" Naruto narrowed his eyes but even as they flashed red for a moment he couldn't see anything at all.

"Nothing, it was nothing. Come on, it's getting dark we should try to cover more ground before setting up camp." Tayuya nodded uncertainly, looking at Naruto oddly as he returned to the branch he had been standing on previously before the group set off again. They continued on as they had previously, with somewhat animated conversation and a few laughs as Tayuya or Matsuri would make a funny observation. Naruto however was uncharacteristically quiet.

Every so often he would catch another glimpse of that strange orange and black blur, only for it to vanish if he turned to look at it. He knew he should have probably told the rest of the group but he couldn't shake the feeling something was off about it. His eye were sharp, his nose even more so; if someone was trailing them he would be able to smell them, nothing was hidden from his nose. It made him consider the fact he might be under a genjutsu of some sort, it would have to be a powerful one to get past Kurama's notice.

Not wanting to alert their pursuer if it was a Genjutsu he decided not to flare his chakra, instead he allowed just a trace amount of Kyuubi's Chakra into his system. He had found out a while ago that to break most Genjutsu he only had to disrupt his chakra network which is what injuring yourself or sending a pulse through your system would normally do. However his way was less noticeable, was more effective and didn't involve sticking himself in the leg with a kunai; which was a plus.

However this had no noticeable effects on his surrounding, bar a few of the more chakra-sensitive creatures scampering away from him. He narrowed his eyes as he continued on, for once actually hoping he was seeing things. Unfortunately he knew that couldn't be true as he caught the blur again, however this time he reacted as fast as he could, launching a kunai towards it without even fully looking. When he did turn all he saw was his kunai embedded into the wood of a tree.

The whole group stopped when they heard the dull thud of a kunai, all of them going on high alert until they saw it was Naruto who had thrown it. He moved over to pull the kunai out of the tree and narrowed his eye as he noted there wasn't any hint it had hit anything but the tree. He wasn't one to brag but his aim was impeccable and his speed was unmatched; if he had intended to hit something, and there was something there to hit, he would have hit it. Tayuya once again joined him on the branch, this time followed by Fuu who looked up at him with worry.

"Is everything okay Oniisan?" He smiled as convincingly as he could, pushing his current worries to the back of his mind for now.

"It's nothing Imouto, just thought I saw something is all." Fuu nodded with a frown, knowing that her brother wasn't the type to see things or react without reason.

"Huh, finally losing your marbles shithead?" Naruto sent Tayuya a cheeky grin as Gaara and Matsuri joined them.

"It's more surprising it didn't happen sooner." He got a laugh from Tayuya as Gaara looked around; trying to see what it was that had Naruto so agitated.

"Yes, even so it would be probably wise to start setting up camp, we are all tired and as time passes we are more likely to make mistakes." Everybody just nodded, even Naruto surprisingly, he was usually the last to admit he needed to stop. Maybe he was just tired? Naruto had to go with that, it at least meant he wasn't crazy, paranoid or seeing things. He didn't particularly like the idea of turning into the generic idea of what people thought a Jinchuuriki to be.

They pulled over as soon as they found a suitable clearing, setting up the tents as quickly as they could. Most would think it strange that the Kazekage would be content, actually more than they would think, with sleeping out in a mere tent. In actuality it always brought him back to the simpler days of his younger Shinobi career when it was just him, Tayuya and Naruto. Of course back then he was mostly alone in the tent as those two were always snuggled up together. Honestly, sometimes he just couldn't understand why it had taken so long for them to get together.

Naruto offered to take the watch that night, like Fuu he really didn't have to sleep all that long, it was just how his body was programmed. However just because he didn't have to didn't mean he couldn't enjoy a good lie in, especially with his red bundle of comfort sleeping next to him. He smiled at the thought as he glanced around at the warmly-lit tent where he was certain Tayuya was already fast asleep. She had once tried to stay up with him as a sort of romantic gesture, it didn't really turn out all that great; she was asleep in his arms after ten minutes.

He returned his attention to the forest around them, there were a few shadow clones nearby that would dispel if anybody came too close, warning him. He was waiting for a good hour before one of them did just that, the flood of memories shocking him out of the semi-lucid state he always had while guarding. In the eye of his clone he saw that familiar flash of orange and black as his mouth turned into a frown. It was on the very outskirts of the border he had set up so he tried to ignore it, hoping it was nothing.

However less than a minute later another clone dispelled, this time on the other side of the camp; again he saw that same blur of orange and black. Fearing that they were surrounded as it would take incredible speed for one man to reach both ends of his perimeter he stood up, reaching out with what senses he could for the intruders. He felt nothing which put him on serious high alert. It was impossible to put his clones under a Genjutsu; that much he knew for certain with Tayuya's help so there was definitely something out there, something he couldn't sense.

"Hi there." Naruto spun around as fast as his body would let him, rather giving him the appearance of facing one way in one second and the opposite way in another without moving. He immediately scowled as he stared at the damned spiral mask of Tobi; he immediately launched more than a fair few kunai at the man. He continued to stare with critical eyes as the kunai passed right through him, leaving the masked man rather nonplussed. The same thing had happened at the Kage meeting so he wasn't all that surprised, more annoyed.

"Aww, that wasn't very nice, and when Tobi came to say hello as well!" Naruto continued to stare at him with narrowed eyes, analysing anything he could about him. His first instinct was that this was a normal clone, however they weren't able to speak and he could lightly smell them. This man on the other hand, he didn't exist; at least, that would be what he would believe if his eyes weren't showing him exactly this.

"What do you want?" He kept his voice neutral, not wanting to set up a fight when he still knew so little about him or his abilities. For the Akatsuki to either be considering him or have actually let him in he must be powerful. That strange intangibility and his near-invisibility to his senses would have told him that anyway. Tobi for his part just cocked a head to the side, much like a dog, and flopped to the floor, surprising the blonde at the almost childish display of immaturity.

"Tobi wants to talk with Namikaze-sama." Naruto's eyes narrowed even further if that was possible; he wondered how the man had known about his heritage so soon when only the Kage were privy to that information. He had also mentioned something about his father before, possibly using the Hiraishin on him; the fact he was still here today only spoke more of his danger.

"Who are you?" he didn't know how but he somehow could tell that Tobi was smiling under his mask, goofily too.

"I'm Tobi, the bestest Akatsuki member ever! Except for Leader-sama of course" Naruto, though wary, decided that the man in front of him currently posed no harm. It wasn't like he could attack him anyway and if the masked man tried anything he had a few Fuijin no iki seals dotted around the area. He carefully sat down on the floor, a good fifteen feet from the robed man in front of him, earning him another concealed smile.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Tobi was staring almost absently off into the trees, apparently watching a fly that had flown too close to his head before turning to Naruto's voice.

"Tobi was bored, nobody in the Akatsuki is any fun, Zetsu-sempai is always grumpy, except for white Zetsu; he's fun sometimes. Konan-chan is quiet, very quiet, like talking to a piece of paper." He suddenly erupted into a fit of giggles at his own little joke as he rolled back on the floor, laughing madly. Naruto casually threw a Kunai at him, watching as it passed right through the man like nothing. Tobi didn't even seem to notice that Naruto had tried to take advantage of a possibly vulnerable moment.

He sat back up, looking like he was wiping tears from his eyes, even though he had a mask on his face blocking him from doing just that. He looked around again, then down at the kunai behind him before back to the blonde, seemingly unconcerned. Naruto just shrugged before leaning back on his own hands, although his body was still tensed to react to anything.

"So what about your leader?" he had to ask, more because he hated not knowing anything about his enemy or possibly his opponent one day.

"Uh uh uh, that would be telling and Zetsu-sempai always tells Tobi that telling is bad for the Akatsuki." Naruto sighed, the childish way the man spoke was starting to grate on his nerves a bit; he wasn't saying that the cold demeanour of his usual opponents was better though.

"What Akatsuki, you only have four members left, or haven't you noticed?" He raised up his hands for a moment, clearly displaying the rings that still adorned his fingers. He had at first only intended it as a type of threat but he had actually found that removing the rings proved exceptionally difficult. He knew it was possible, Itachi had done it after all, but it wasn't a major concern for now and would deal with it later. Tobi still held that invisible grin as he only casually looked over the rings, before his own bare hands.

"Tobi still thinks stealing is wrong Namikaze-san, it means that Tobi doesn't get a ring unless we go get the one Snaky-man stole as well. And you miscounted, Leader-sama is way more powerful than us, he's worth like... six people!" He once again burst into a fit of laughter, apparently at some kind of inside joke only he was privy to. Naruto filed away the information that Orochimaru had one of the Akatsuki rings for later, intending to bring it up with Jiraiya when or if he next saw him.

"Namikaze-san looks just like his dad, except for those whiskers." Naruto narrowed his eyes again; he didn't like the way Tobi just casually talked about his father.

"What do you know about my father?" Tobi bounced to his feet, surprising Naruto who was up in a flash, kunai in hand as he relaxed into a fighting stance. Tobi simply waved merrily as the air around him began to warp strangely.

"Sorry Namikaze-san, maybe another time." The strange vortex that formed around him proceeded to consume his body until just his eye was left, then it too vanished. However Naruto could only smirk; right at the end, as the man was disappearing, he smelt him. It was fleeting and may have been anything but he was certain he could smell the man right before he activated that strange technique.

"Four minutes, forty two seconds."

"Huh?" Naruto spun only to see Tayuya blearily rubbing her eyes as she walked over. "What's four minutes and forty two seconds?" Naruto just waved a hand before he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, noticing her slight shiver from the cold air.

"Nothing, just an idea I had." He wasn't sure why but he felt that keeping his and Tobi's brief conversation quiet was best for now. Tayuya just observed him strangely but didn't say anything, too tired to care.

"Come on Shithead, Matsuri has the next watch and I missed my pillow." He just nodded before letting her lead him by the arm with a smile. He sent one last curious look out into the forest before his attentions were filled by flawless skin and vibrant red hair.

* * *

The next day continued much in the same way, the three of them would travel through fire country at a sedate pace, for Shinobi anyway, while chatting idly. However whenever Naruto would separate from the group for whatever reason, scouting or needed to the toilet or anything else, he would get a friendly visit from Tobi. In every case he never sensed or felt the man approaching, he would simply appear before him.

Likewise in every case the man would just talk into his ear inanely while never actually revealing anything remotely useful about the Akatsuki. Despite the seemingly moronic mask he wore, and not the literal one, he proved to actually be quite cunning, subverting or diverting all of Naruto's questions with more inane ramblings. It led Naruto to believe that Tobi was actually hiding something, well he obviously was being in the Akatsuki but he thought it was more in the way he had been acting.

It just didn't add up, whenever they would talk he would play the fool, however despite Naruto being unable to see his eye he could still feel the man sizing him up. Naruto didn't let anything slip about his abilities, even though he already believed Akatsuki knew most of it anyway. However the idea that this man could be around him without Naruto even realising worried him. At least one good thing came from their chats, apart from the slight amusement Naruto would get from his sometimes overly idiotic moves.

Their conversations never lasted longer than five minutes, Naruto counted each time, even when Naruto gave the man the opportunity to talk longer. It reinforced his earlier assumption the man could only keep up his odd intangibility for so long and that would be useful information. Likewise every time the man would leave via that strange vortex-like ability he would suddenly appear in Naruto's senses again, also leading him to believe he had to become tangible to activate it. Tobi didn't even realise just how much he was giving away to Naruto but like many of his previous enemies he would come to regret underestimating his shrewdness.

They were jumping through the trees, Naruto and Tayuya taking up the rear while both were usually quiet to one another. Naruto was thinking about the latest challenge Tobi posed while Tayuya was wondering why Naruto seemed quite distant since yesterday. He would talk when asked anything, in his usual care-free way but he wasn't starting any conversation like he usually did.

"Hey Tayuya." Hey surprise must have been evident as he smirked when he turned to look at her.

"What?" Naruto kept hopping over a few branches as they ran, thinking of the right way to phrase it.

"How would you fight somebody who could turn themselves completely intangible, but could only do it for a certain amount of time?" Tayuya looked at him strangely, wondering where this had come from all of a sudden; however she pondered the question none-the-less.

"I guess I would force them into a situation where they would have to maintain it for longer, then when they came out I could deal some damage." Naruto frowned and nodded absently, apparently returning to his own musings; he had thought the same thing. "Why?" Naruto seemed to ignore her, instead countering her question with another.

"What do you know about the other member of the Akatsuki, Tobi?" Tayuya again looked at him strangely, narrowing her eyes in confusion at the strange questions.

"Umm not a lot, he would mostly stick near Zetsu or Deidara before he bit the big one, I didn't really see any of his abilities and I never got a good look at his face because of the mask he always wore." Naruto nodded again, his frown deepening as he turned his attention back to the path through the branches ahead. "Why? Did something happen Naruto?" He waved a hand, warding off her question with the gesture.

"It's nothing important." Tayuya scowled as she suddenly leapt ahead of him, blocking his path as she looked him right in the eyes.

"Hey Shithead, what did we say about you blocking me out. Something obviously fucking happened or you would be asking these weird ass questions." Naruto stopped in front of her, his features going from neutral to guarded before settling on resigned.

"Okay, I'm sorry Tayuya, but for some reason I just thought it would be best not to say anything." Tayuya cocked her head in confusion but waited for him to continue. "Yesterday, when I was out on guard Tobi appeared next to me." Tayuya raised an eyebrow, wondering why either Naruto or Tobi weren't dead already but as he continued to explain what happened her face switched from intrigue to surprise to confusion before finally a simple frown.

"How can somebody just make their body intangible and why wouldn't they just sink through the floor?" Naruto raised his eyebrows, he honestly hadn't considered that; his first reaction was that the ability somehow kept him levitated but Tobi walked like he was real, he even fell to the ground.

"Huh, I have no idea." Tayuya's frown deepened like Naruto's had earlier as they both tried to puzzle out the enigma that was Tobi. Quickly they realised the group had moved ahead and put on a burst of speed to catch up, both of them now lost in thought. Mainly about how to beat an enemy you couldn't even touch.

* * *

The Suna gates were a welcome sight to everybody that had taken the hostile journey through the desert. While for them it was easier than for most it was still a harsh and bleak environment to travel through, usually stamping out most conversations. Tayuya sometimes joked that it was because the ice didn't need breaking, it was already vapour. While Naruto's smaller wind jutsu were useful for warding off the heat, nothing beat entering the shadow of the mighty walls and everybody, no exceptions, sighed in relief. They all started to part at the gate but Gaara quickly put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Can I speak to you in my office please?" Naruto suddenly had the greatest sense of déjà vu ever as he remembered his academy days but shrugged it off. He looked at Tayuya who seemed a little annoyed that their alone time would have to be delayed but she shrugged and sighed.

"Come on Fuu, I'm going to show you the best dango place in all of Suna." The younger girl just smiled as Tayuya walked off with her, hand in hand. The redhead looked back over her shoulder at Naruto before giving him a cheeky wink and returning her attention to the younger girl at her side. Naruto smiled at the scene before looking over at Gaara.

"What did you want to talk about?" Gaara shook his head and started walking back to the Kazekage tower, he was certain there would be a pile of paperwork the size of him waiting on his desk but it could wait a little bit; that was what shadow clones were for in his opinion.

"Not here, in my office." Naruto just shrugged and grabbed Gaara by the shoulder before the sand-wielder felt an odd tingling sensation and they both disappeared from view. When they flashed into Gaara's office courtesy of the seal Naruto had left there he just looked around curiously with his brow raised questioningly. "Fascinating, when did you place a seal in here?" Naruto just shrugged, he couldn't honestly remember, only that he knew where each seal he placed was.

Gaara looked around and sure enough there was an enormous pile of loose papers and documents waiting for him on his desk, as if mocking him. With a sigh he put his hands in a seal, letting the other three Gaara clones he summoned take care of it before he got annoyed and decided to shred it with a whole lot of sand. He moved over, sitting behind his desk as he sighed into the comfortable leather, earning a scowl from Naruto; knowing Gaara only did it to annoy him. After all it had once been his aspiration to be the Hokage, as likely as that was now, which it wasn't.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Gaara just nodded, his face turning to what Naruto had dubbed 'Kazekage mode', there wasn't that much of a shift in his attitude but he held an overall greater sense of importance and power, as well as seriousness. He casually reached into a draw in his desk and removed a jounin flak-jacket before casually tossing it over to Naruto. The blonde just stared at it for a moment incredulously before narrowing his eyes at his long-time friend.

"What's this?" Gaara let up on his mask for a moment to let slip a small smile.

"You earned it; I know you didn't take the jounin exams but consider it a field promotion; I am allowed to give those..." He looked thoughtful for a minute "...I think." Naruto sweat dropped as he continued to stare at the jacket questioningly. "I believe it only qualifies under extenuating circumstances however I believe that the successful incapacitation of numerous S-ranked criminals, as well as the fact you are a jinchuuriki and have mastered three S-ranked jutsu counts." Naruto still didn't seem to be sure and Gaara only sighed as he leant forward in the desk.

"Naruto, at sixteen this would also make you the youngest jounin to ever be produced in the Village Hidden in the Sand, as well as the youngest ever promoted in peace-time in all the elemental nations." Naruto seemed to perk up at that as he stared at the flak jacket, unable to tear his eyes away from it.

"But... what if I'm not ready, or if I don't deserve it?" Gaara could only smile at that, Naruto really was too humble for his own good.

"Don't you think as Kazekage that decision is up to me? If I say you deserve it then you do, understand?" He had hardened his voice, becoming every bit the Kazekage that almost three years with the job had made him into. Naruto subconsciously stood a little straighter, finally tearing his eyes from the dark brown jacket to look his friend in the eye with a weak smile.

"Thank you Kazekage-sama" Gaara scowled at the name but he let it slide, knowing that Naruto was uncertain right now.

"Anyway, imagine how jealous Tayuya is going to feel." Naruto smirked at this as a shit-eating grin made its way onto his face as he quickly shrugged off his coat, followed by the chuunin flak jacket underneath it. He held the jounin jacket hesitantly for another moment before almost reverently pulling it on, startled at how much more comfortable it was that it's lower ranking counterpart. Finally he slipped his coat back on; on the outside his appearance didn't change all that much he was standing taller and he know seemed to exude an air of confidence.

"Now I should inform you that with the rank of jounin you have new responsibilities" Naruto would have groaned at that word but he was still rather caught up in the promotion to complain. "You are now eligible to take on solo A-ranked missions as well as an S-ranked one with a team. You are also now able to apply for the ANBU and all the perks that come with the position although I would advise waiting until you have more experience with some missions." He smirked a little as he looked his friend right in the eye.

"You are also now obligated to take on a genin team or an apprentice as their jounin-sensei within a year, unless we enter war, then you will be forced to take them on sooner." Naruto frowned; he still had so much in his life to sort out before he could start thinking about training others. Then again he had trained Fuu and she was technically still a genin, maybe he could just take her on as an apprentice. Then again she would probably enter the chuunin exams that were coming up so he threw that plan out of the window.

"What about the Akatsuki, or Orochimaru?" Gaara sighed, he knew Naruto's life was, in a word, a mess right now but those were the rules and responsibilities that came with the rank.

"Like I said you have a year to get acquainted with your rank and responsibilities, hopefully you will be better prepared by then." Naruto just nodded with a frown before his face lit up.

"Well then, I gotta go tell Tayuya, she's gonna be so jealous!" With that he promptly vanished from the room which might have shocked Gaara if he hadn't known Naruto for as long as he had. He swivelled on his chair, looking out at his village as the afternoon sun made the sands sparkle. He eased his face into a smile as he thought about everything that was to come before the speaker on his desk blared to life.

"Kazekage-sama, now that you're back you have a meeting with the education representative and a full report waiting for you from the ANBU captain. You also have to talk to the zoning commission about your suggested extensions to the village. After that..." Gaara sighed deeply as he let his head drop to the desk; he already missed fighting S-ranked shinobi.


	58. Chapter 58

Naruto hopped happily over the rooftops of Sunagakure, basking in the familiarity that permeated the air of his home. It didn't take him long to find Tayuya, there was only one place she would go when in the mood for those delicious dumplings; 'Kushi Dango'. A stand that she proclaimed to be the best purveyor of food in all the Elemental Nations; a compliment the owners took in stride. He ducked under the flaps of the stall, nodding his hello to the old woman who ran the stall and her son.

He sat down on one of the seats, quickly nicking a stick of dango off of Fuu's plate, knowing that if he did the same to Tayuya then he would likely lose a finger. Fuu just yelped in annoyance before trying to snatch the stick from Naruto's hand; he quickly swatted the hand away while holding the stick just out of her reach. Thus began a small battle between the two, Naruto blocking all of Fuu's attempts with one hand while eating each dumpling from the stick tantalisingly slow.

"Hey come on Oniisan! Hey I... uhh, Oniisan, is there something different about your jacket?" Naruto grinned; Fuu wasn't a shinobi because she lacked observational skills after all. Tayuya looked around, also noticed the change to Naruto, except she actually knew what it meant.

"Woh Shithead, I knew you wanted to make Jounin but I didn't think you would steal one of their jackets." Naruto just smirked, letting his coat hang open a bit more so the jacket was more visible, proudly displaying the symbol of his promotion.

"Nope, all mine." Tayuya raised her eyebrow; honestly she had thought it was some kind of elaborate prank, for somebody Naruto's age to make jounin was pretty much unheard of outside of war times.

"Woh, what's Gaara think he's doing making you a jounin?" Naruto looked a little hurt; even if it was obvious Tayuya said it merely in jest.

"What, you don't think I'm good enough to be a jounin?" Tayuya looked at him in amusement.

"Naruto, I'm on your team, we've only done about fifty missions, not nearly enough to qualify for jounin." Naruto smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Eh, I guess the experience will just come with the job. Anyway I'm pretty sure killing an S-ranked shinobi counts as an S-ranked mission so I've done like four of those." Tayuya shrugged, finally letting a smile onto her face, a genuine one as she leaned over and hugged her boyfriend.

"Nice one Naruto, I'm proud of you." Naruto smile as well as he leaned into her shoulder, breathing in her scent as he returned the comforting hug. Suddenly Tayuya broke away from him, smirking devilishly. "But don't think this makes you better than me. I'll still kick your ass up and down the training fields." Naruto returned the smirk, standing up so he was taller than her, looking down at the top of her red hair until she looked up.

"Oh really?" She stood up but she was still shorter than him by a few inches, even so she managed to strike an imposing figure as she poked him in the chest.

"Yeah really." Naruto was about to comment when Fuu sighed, looking between the both of them.

"Do we have to do this? Can't we just celebrate Oniisan becoming a jounin without having a massive spar that will probably destroy a training field." Both Naruto and Tayuya looked at the younger girl oddly with amused smirks on their faces, that was generally how they celebrated most things. Suddenly Tayuya gained a rather mischievous grin as she wormed her way behind Naruto, pulling him back as she looped her arms over his shoulders.

"Hmm, celebrate eh? I like the way you think Fuu." She quickly pulled Naruto into a deep kiss which he didn't mind returning in the slightest. Fuu just sighed again as she returned to her dango.

"Uhh, can't you guys think about anything other than fighting or making out?" Tayuya kept her innocent yet oh-so devilish grin as she broke away from Naruto's lips.

"Oh, I think about _plenty _of other things." Fuu sighed again, nearly smacking her head into the counter in exasperation.

"I don't think I'll ever understand you guys." Naruto broke out of Tayuya's clutches for just a moment to wrap his arms around Fuu's shoulders in much the same way Tayuya had done to him, with less intimacy of course.

"Oh I don't know, soon you'll meet a guy and fall for him like Tayuya did for me." He heard an indignant but playful huff behind him but ignored it with a smile. "Then after I scare him shitless for trying anything with you, then you can finally understand how we feel all the time." Fuu just snorted but smiled at the thought all the same, picking at her dango.

"You wouldn't really frighten anybody I liked would you?" Naruto just smirked as she turned around; not answering "Would you?" His smirk turned into a full on grin as Fuu looked at him critically with a hint of worry.

"Hey, I'm your big brother, it's my job." Fuu scowled as Naruto laughed, Tayuya quickly joined in as she draped herself over his body.

"Hmm, how about that 'celebrating' Shithead?" Naruto just grinned as he quickly hoisted Tayuya onto his back much to her delight as she yelped in unexpected surprise.

"Sure thing Tayuya-chan." Suddenly he remembered they weren't alone and looked down at Fuu in worry, not wanting to abandon the girl. The mint-haired teen merely looked up and sighed with a small smile.

"Just go Oniisan; I'm sure I can find something to do." Tayuya looked over Naruto's shoulder teasingly.

"Oh? Gonna go find Yukimaru and maybe get started on that whole 'understanding us' thing?" Fuu scowled but Tayuya just giggled madly before Naruto shot her an apologetic look and vanished from the stand, no doubt back to their shared room. Fuu sighed, finished off the last stick of dango and paid for her meal, waving to the nice stall-owner as she got up and left. She stood outside in the street, wondering what to do now; she shrugged, Tayuya made a good point, she might as well go see Yukimaru, see how they were settling into Suna. Of course that was the only reason she was going, there was no other reason, nothing at all.

* * *

Naruto appeared in their room, his lips already locked onto Tayuya's as they fell as a laughing heap onto the bed. Tayuya quickly took the initiative, straddling Naruto even as they shimmied further up the bed, accidently knocking his head against the headboard. He winced and she looked down but all she saw was a cheeky smile before she was flipped, suddenly looking up at Naruto's face, outlined by a glowing halo as his head blocked the ceiling light. She blinked in surprise, Naruto's hair practically glowed with the back lighting, making her reach up and gently stroke it.

If Naruto was shocked by the action he didn't show it, instead deciding to get across his appreciation in the form of a long, deep and loving kiss. They used chakra to create oxygen in their lungs, not having to part from one another's embrace for a good five minutes before they separated, smiling insanely as a single strand of saliva connected them at the lips. They rolled around on the bed, going back and forth with kisses of varying intensity until it suddenly disappeared out from under them and they both crashed to the floor.

Once again they gently chuckled to one another before Naruto got up, helping Tayuya up with a hand as he did so. They brushed themselves off before Tayuya practically tackled Naruto back onto the bed, straddling him once again as she quickly began to tug at his coat. He could clearly see the gleam in her eye that told him what she wanted and sat up so she could pull off the red coat that was between her and her prize. As she did so Naruto pulled gently at the hem of her shirt until she let up for a moment to allow him it slide it over her head.

He smiled warmly as her head re-emerged from the shirt, allowing her vibrant hair to cascade down her shoulders like a shining waterfall. He blinked as he took in her form, never truly believing just how beautiful she was until he got to see it again. Quickly she repeated the process with his shirt; only she stopped halfway through, leaving Naruto with his arms sticking up and the shirt covering his face. Tayuya gently stroked a hand up his exposed stomach, tracing the visible edges of his abs before she planted a small wet kiss just above his navel. Finally he pulled the shirt the rest of the way off, looking at his girlfriend questioningly as she merely shrugged as a reply.

"Oh two can play at that game Tayuya-chan." She only had a millisecond to look curious before she found her arms pinned behind her back. Looking around she saw the smiling face of another half-naked Naruto, pinning her arms behind her as the original smirked. Quickly he began to very lightly run his hands up and down her toned stomach, feather-like touches that had Tayuya biting her lip to stop herself laughing or moaning at each pleasurable caress. She jerked up as Naruto planted one, then multiple kisses across her stomach before licking a small trail up to her breasts.

He took one look at the bindings that separated him from Tayuya's chest before unravelling them in one smooth motion. His prize bounced for a moment as Tayuya's endowments were freed, nearly making her gasp as the slightly cold air in the room assaulted her now exposed nipples. Naruto only had time for a brief smirk before he attacked them, licking, sucking and generally doing all he could to bring Tayuya pleasure with just his mouth and hands. Soon Tayuya was a quivering mass on the bed, unable to gather the strength to even try and struggle against the clone holding her.

By now Naruto knew her better than anybody else could or ever would, knowing the exact spots that sent her over the edge. As he let his hands continue the work his mouth started he began to slowly kiss up her chest making her torso shine from all the wet kisses. As he passed her collar bone he gently nibble on it making the redhead shudder with pleasure before he did the same thing to the side of her neck , only to end up at her mouth. Starved of his lips for too long she hungrily attacked them, letting her tongue roam around as she moaned into the contact.

Of course all good things come to an end and their end just happened to be a knock at the door of their apartment. Naruto broke away from Tayuya, leaving her lips puckered and her eyes closed expectantly, even as a scowl of sheer annoyance crossed over her features. Naruto stood up and left her with an apologetic look before he shrugged on his coat and walked to the door. Tayuya just sat with her arms over her chest, staring angrily at where she knew the door was like she could see through the walls.

"I'll kill them, I swear to Kami." Naruto chuckled as he opened it, surprised to see Guren on the other side, smiling warmly.

"Hey Naruto, Fuu came over to visit us so I just wanted to stop by and say hi." Naruto nearly broke out laughing, confusing Guren as he stifled a snort. Eventually he caught himself and stood up straighter, smiling goofily at Guren, amazed at her terrible timing.

"Tell whoever the fuck it is we're busy!" Naruto turned to Tayuya's voice, echoing from the bedroom as she called out in irritation.

"What if it was Gaara with a mission?" He tried to make it sound innocent but it came out with too many half-stifled chuckles.

"Then tell him to fuck off!" Naruto grinned as he shook his head and turned back to Guren. The blue-haired woman was now blushing as she took in Naruto's half-dressed appearance and Tayuya's voice coming from the bedroom, tweaking to what was going on.

"Oh sorry Naruto, I should leave you two alone." Naruto nodded with a kind smile.

"Come back in about an hour. Then we can catch up, maybe all go out and get something to eat." Guren nodded, now rather anxious to leave the couple to get back to what she had interrupted.

"Hey Shithead get the fuck back in here and finish what you started!" Naruto's goofy grin turned a bit more mischievous as he glanced back at Guren one more time.

"Make that two hours." And with that he disappeared around the door of his bedroom leaving a startled Guren who quickly closed the door before she heard anything she didn't want to.

"So we have guests and you get more naked?" Tayuya just beamed happily on the bed, while he had been talking she had managed to get out of her pants and sandals leaving her in nothing but a pair of bright pink panties, laid out on the bed in a seductive pose.

"Hey, this is our alone time, everybody else can just fuck off for all I care." Naruto just grinned as he jumped on the bed beside her, kissing her softly on the lips.

"It was Guren." Tayuya kissed him back.

"Don't care." Naruto smirked as he deepened the kiss.

"She wanted to come round and say hi." Tayuya grinned even more as she too deepened the kiss.

"Still don't care." Naruto smiled cheekily, knowing he was getting under her skin.

"Maybe we should have let her in, catch up." Tayuya finally broke away, sitting up as she crossed her arms under her chest and stared at him blankly.

"What are you gay?" Naruto just chuckled as he too sat up, admiring her body.

"Definitely not." Tayuya just sighed as he pulled her into a warm hug before melting into the embrace. Suddenly a thought occurred to Naruto as he remembered something he had promised he would do. He broke away from the hug leaving Tayuya to pout cutely at losing his body heat. "Hey, how about we go on a date?" Tayuya stopped pouting long enough to stare at him in confusion, waiting for him to clarify.

"You know... me... you...? Out doing something romantic?" Tayuya couldn't help the smirk that overcame her features.

"What suddenly brought this on Shithead?" Naruto just shrugged as he smiled sheepishly.

"You know, between the way we sort of fell into all this and the sudden separation we never really did all those things a normal couple do." Tayuya just looked amused as she shuffled closer to Naruto, latching onto his arm.

"We aren't exactly a normal couple Shithead." He looked a little crestfallen as he glanced away.

"Oh, right." Tayuya just slapped him playfully on the stomach.

"I didn't say no." Naruto looked around, any hint of sadness gone as it was replaced by a beaming grin. Before Tayuya could enjoy it properly he was assaulting her lips, now very intent on showing just how much he loved her.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe he was actually nervous; he had faced down people that by all rights should have left him dead and he was scared about a date. It made absolutely no sense in his head, he knew Tayuya loved him, he knew he loved her; it wasn't like they were a new couple just starting out. Ever so he could feel the butterflies in his stomach fluttering about; the teasing from Kurama didn't really help all that much either. He had taken to pacing to try and ease his nerves, doing something usually helped; in this case, not so much.

"You ready to go?" All thoughts of nervousness disappeared when he glanced across to where Tayuya had emerged from the bedroom. If his jaw wasn't attached to his head it might have dropped off in surprise. He knew the redhead was beautiful but this was just ridiculous.

"Um, uhh, wow." Tayuya smirked, twirling on the spot to show off her outfit.

"I know, fucking smoking hot right?" Naruto could only nod dumbly, too caught up in what she was wearing. It was a short plain black dress with a strap going over one shoulder letting the neckline slant off to one side showing decent cleavage. It stopped at about the middle of her thighs showing off perfectly smooth legs that just seemed to keep going forever. At least until they met her feet, covered by equally black, heeled sandals like what Tsunade wore but slightly higher.

To top it off she had her hair pulled into a loose pony tail; he had never seen it in anything other than a loose sheet that fell down her back. This revealed her creamy neck and shoulders where her spiral mark could be spotted, looking like nothing more than an ordinary tattoo. She wore a loose bangle on her wrist, probably a gift from Temari or something she 'borrowed' from the older girl as he had never seen her wear it before.

"You look incredible." Tayuya had to suppress a small blush from breaking out over her face.

"I know, you clean up pretty well too Shithead." Naruto looked down at himself, he was just wearing his normal black shinobi pants with a different, lighter orange T-shirt and a black jacket slung over the top. His head was still a shaggy mess but he had at least tried to straighten out his spikes, however unsuccessfully. In comparison to Tayuya he felt completely under-dressed but if she didn't mind he was willing to shrug it off.

"So, are we heading out to dinner at some restaurant or something?" Naruto just smiled deviously as a response.

"Please." With that he grabbed her shoulder and after a moment of tingling both vanished from the room.

* * *

Tayuya nearly shrieked out in surprise when the materialised and she looked down; only to see Sunagakure hundreds of metres below them. Her eyes opened wide as she tentatively prodded her foot against the literal cloud they were standing on. She held onto Naruto tightly, thinking that at any moment the two of them would go plunging down through the cloud and to the ground below. Naruto noticed her looking down in fear and clasped her shoulder tightly before bending down. When he came back up she watched as sand trickled through his fingers making her eyes widen.

"Don't worry; Gaara said he could give us about an hour up here." Tayuya was still a little dumbfounded, not truly believing that Naruto had sent them up into the sky, only supported by a sheet of sand.

"But what if he can't hold it?" Naruto just chuckled and pulled an arm around her shoulders.

"Please, I bet Gaara could hold this thing in his sleep. He was just sore he didn't think of the idea first." Tayuya was still a little confused, not understanding why Naruto had brought her up here. Of course the view was breathtaking and she had to admit that standing on a cloud was romantic but in reality it was scary as hell.

"What idea?" Naruto just smiled warmly as he motioned behind her with his hand. She turned to see a small table, large enough for two with a single candle in the middle. Two chairs were set up in front of two meals on clean white plates; Tayuya just had to gawk at this, in disbelief at what Naruto was doing.

"How did you set all of this up in just a few hours?" Naruto shrugged nonchalantly.

"I think well on my feet, plus I figured our first real date should be special." Tayuya could only nod dumbly as they walked over to the table, Naruto pulling out her chair for her in a very gentlemanly fashion.

"Well A-plus for effort." Naruto chuckled softly as he sat down opposite her, looking across at her as he once again took in how beautiful she looked. Tayuya was still so shocked she barely noticed the food in front of her; instead she kept looking around them, at the sky, the distant ground and the sun which would be setting in about half an hour. "This is all just incredible." Naruto could only smile his view was firmly fixed on the woman in front of him.

"Yeah, it is." She looked around with a smirk, noting where Naruto's eyes were and the slightly vacant tone in his voice before he managed to catch himself and stop staring. Finally Tayuya looked down, taking in the plate of sashimi in front of her; it made sense to having something that couldn't go cold when they were this high up. Luckily she wasn't feeling the chill; it was at that perfect time in the desert when it wasn't too hot like midday but not too cold like at night.

The two happily ate their meal, talked and laughed as they made jokes or remembered something from their pasts. In all they acted like most other couples do on a first date, except without all the awkwardness that came with a new relationship or not knowing your date very well. Except of course they were having their date on top of a cloud, not many people could ever have claimed that happened to them and Tayuya couldn't feel more special. She was really astounded to the lengths Naruto went to try and make their date special.

Of course he topped it all off with a plate of steaming dango that he seemingly produced out of thin air, although she figured it had something to do with the Fujin no Iki. She beamed like a schoolgirl, reaching out for the plate of dango hungrily as Naruto just chuckled, handing it over and watching her slowly make her way through the entire plate. He found it adorable how much she enjoyed the food, even if it meant he couldn't have any. Luckily he sealed some away in a scroll for himself later; dango was still tasty after all.

"This was all incredible Naruto." he just nodded with a smile as he motioned for her to come over to him. She did so and he sat her down on his lap; she rested her head against his chest, leaning into the crook of his neck as he softly kissed her on top of her head. He turned them both so they were both staring out at the horizon.

"It's not quite over yet." As soon as he said it the sun began to sink past the horizon slowly, sending the sky that was still lit into a variety of colours as even the cloud they were sitting on erupted into various shades of pink or orange. Tayuya gasped at the beautiful sight, never thinking she would witness a sunset with the man she loved on top of a cloud. It was the kind of thing young, naive kunoichi dream about while they are still fresh into the academy, of course she was never that naive but it didn't stop her from appreciating the moment.

Of course it had to end eventually and soon the last sliver of the sun dropped behind the flat horizon of the desert, plunging the city into the darkness of the night. Of course that only meant the two of them were left looking up at the crescent moon which now shone brightly. Honestly she didn't believe this night could get any more perfect, although she had an idea of how to make it so. She nudged Naruto who pulled his face out of her hair long enough to look at her.

"Thank you Naruto, we should probably head back to the house now, it's starting to get a little cold." Naruto nodded with a smile before the two of them vanished from the cloud, reappearing not a moment later back in their room. They both plopped down onto the bed with Naruto staring expectantly at Tayuya while she just stared at the wall, apparently in thought.

"So what did you-?" He suddenly found a finger over his mouth, preventing him from saying any more as Tayuya turned to him.

"Naruto, I think we're ready." He blinked a few times questioningly.

"Ready for what?" Tayuya could only laugh, she might never have been naive but Naruto was still that clueless idiot she had fallen for two years ago.

"Naruto, I said we're _ready" _Naruto stared at her blankly before realisation dawned on his face.

"Are you sure? I mean-" Once again a finger was pressed to his lips as Tayuya shushed him.

"Shut up Shithead and for once just let it happen." He could only nod before Tayuya stood up from the bed, slowly and sensually pulling her dress off over her head, leaving her for the second time that day in just her panties. Naruto blinked again as she slipped off the high-heeled sandals before removing her bangles and letting her hair fall from the ponytail. He couldn't say anything before she slipped onto the bed, drawing his shirt up over his head, not even bothering to tease him this time.

Naruto almost robotically removed his trousers, taking off his sandals at the same time before rejoining Tayuya on the bed. They were both a little nervous and just started off with something they both were comfortable with. Naruto kissed her gently on the mouth before she allowed his tongue to enter, the two of them swirling their appendages around one another in an almost dance-like movement. Naruto stayed on top mostly but they would roll around on the bed, enjoying the kiss as they grew more and more comfortable with one another.

Naruto parted, only to immediately litter Tayuya's body with kisses, almost not leaving a single patch dry. Tayuya could only writhe as she felt his soft lips all over her boy before in a replay of their first real night of intimacy he began to draw down her panties with his teeth. Once again his kissed a trail up her legs before slowly circling her core; not wanting to be teased this time around she took action, grabbing the back of his head and gently guiding it towards where she so desperately wanted him to be.

He smiled and just followed her wishes, gently licking up the length of her slit before darting his tongue in with one quick motion. Tayuya gasped out in surprise and pleasure, unconsciously pushing Naruto a bit harder into her core. He was more than happy to oblige as he furiously began to lick her out, swirling his tongue in increasingly complicated ways as he did everything he could image to bring her to the brink. Finally when she was panting for breath and biting her lip to stave off the moans he withdrew, only to firmly clamp his lips down over her special nub, sucking it once.

Tayuya cried out on pleasure and desire as she released, moaning as Naruto licked up everything she had to offer, prolonging her orgasm as long as he could. Finally she came down from her high and Naruto would have dived right in again if she hadn't guided his head away from her special area and back up to hers. She softly planted a kiss on his cheek before reversing their positions and sliding down his body. Naruto smiled lightly as she repeated his sexy gesture, pulling off his boxers with her teeth, grinning at the sight of his erect member.

"Happy to see me?" Naruto just chuckled as he nodded.

"Always." Tayuya nodded happily before immediately enveloping as much as she could of him into her mouth. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise but they quickly became heavy and lidded as she began to bob up and down. What really pushed him over the edge was when she looked up at him, her large green eyes staring straight into his. It was quite possibly the sexiest thing he had ever seen and would have lost it right there if Tayuya hadn't started pacing herself. However he was a man and could only last so long before his hands began gripping the sheets of the bed tightly.

"Tayuya I'm going to-" he literally couldn't make out any more before he released; Tayuya drank it all down, once again noting the strange, but not unpleasant taste with a small smirk. Finally she rejoined him higher up on the bed, both of them still panting from the other's ministrations. Naruto kissed her lightly on the lips which quickly developed into a more ferocious make-out session; a sort of thanks from one to the other before they parted again, each tasting themselves in the other's mouth and not finding it entirely bad.

"Naruto, please." The blonde smiled softly and nodded before he readjusted his body, lining himself up. Tayuya could only moan as she felt his length gently press up against her lips before it slowly slid in. Her hands found his shoulders, nails biting into his skin as she winced from the feeling of being slowly filled up in the most unbelievable way. Likewise Naruto had his eyes screwed shut; Tayuya was so tight; the feeling was truly indescribable. He had learned about the female body from Hana so was surprised when he continued to feel no resistance; Tayuya seemed to notice his slight hesitation.

"It broke in training." She managed to say it between gasps before Naruto nodded, continuing up. Finally, after a good minute, he was fully inside of her, his hips pressed up against hers, unable to go in any further because of the resistance his tip met deep inside of her. He was amazed that he seemed to fill her completely, like they were made for one another, the sheath perfectly matching the sword as it were. They lay there for who knows how long as they slowly adjusted to the strange sensation.

Really it was Tayuya who was adjusting, Naruto had to literally fight off the urge to draw back out and repeat the process but he was hesitant to do so. Finally Tayuya let out a deep breath she had been holding and nodded her head slowly, opening her eyes again to look deep into his, answering his unspoken question. Slowly he began to withdraw until he was halfway out, then he equally slowly slid back in. With each movement Tayuya would hiss as if in pain and Naruto stopped, worrying about his lover.

"No, please don't stop." Naruto just nodded, pulling back out a little faster to the gasp of Tayuya, quickly he moved back in, earning another gasp followed by a soft moan. He gradually sped up, moving at a pace that would be comfortable to Tayuya so that he didn't hurt her. While she still winced every so often, just so unused to this, her moans were growing louder and sounding less painful to the point where it was pure pleasure.

A thin sheen of sweat coated both of their bodies as Naruto continued to thrust in and out of Tayuya, experimenting with different angles to see which got the best results. Finally he seemed to strike something within her and all at once she cried out, unable to hold back her scream as she released. Naruto's eyes widened as her passage clamped down around him, squeezing him for everything he had as he too couldn't hold back any longer. However he knew about pregnancy and had just a sound enough mind to withdraw before he released all over Tayuya's stomach.

Tayuya could only pant as her mind was lost to the pleasure, blinking rapidly without really seeing anything. Naruto was likewise spent, not really energy-wise but just breathless. He fell down to the bed beside Tayuya, wrapping an arm under her body and drawing her close. He waited for her to recover as he held their naked bodies together, her head resting on his chest while he buried his face into her hair. Both basked in the afterglow of their love-making, both content and happy.

"Kami-sama..." She said it breathlessly and Naruto just nodded, not even bothering to laugh.

"My sentiments exactly." Tayuya, apparently having recovered, twisted in his arms, looking up at him with big doughy eyes.

"Round two?"


	59. Chapter 59

Naruto almost skipped over to where Fuu lay panting on the ground, just barely supporting herself with her forearms. She was looking up at him with a glare while he just smiled back, as jovial as if they were just having some sibling bonding time; in a sense they were.

"Come on Fuu, you know you have to try harder than that." The younger girl's glare doubled in intensity as she tried to set Naruto on fire just using her mind.

"Shut up Oniisan, you know I've never beaten you in a spar." Naruto knelt down so their faces were only a few inches apart.

"And with that attitude you never will." Fuu tried to strike Naruto at that moment, bringing her legs around in a sweeping kick to knock him off his feet. However Naruto jumped over the fast, but not fast enough, attack and swiftly delivered a light kick to Fuu's stomach, sending her skidding across the dusty training ground. She groaned as she returned to nursing her various wounds, mostly superficial as Naruto didn't actually want to hurt her but they were still debilitating.

"Come on Imouto, I think you've had enough. We'll go get something to eat so you can get your strength back." Fuu seemed ready to protest, he should have known considering her drive to outdo him, but he just levelled a stare that told her it wasn't optional. She sighed, nodded and slowly stood up with some help from her brother. Once again she tried to take advantage of his guard being down by flipping him; except Naruto's guard was never down and he inverted the motion, somehow pulling Fuu onto his back in the process.

"Now now Fuu, that wasn't very nice." The mint-haired teen just huffed but still gladly snuggled into her brother's back, reminded of all the times he would carry her during the training trip.

"Hey Oniisan, you seem extra happy today. What happened?" Naruto could only chuckle; it was true that a smile hadn't dropped from his face for the last few days, even when sparring with Fuu.

"Maybe I'll tell you when you're older." Fuu pouted but still only tiredly nodded, Naruto could be a real taskmaster when he was training and even the training regimen he set her was nothing compared to the one he put himself through. Ever since his humiliating defeat by Kisame he had nearly doubled his training, setting a gruelling pace that pushed him every day. Even now as he carried Fuu off to a nearby stall he had clones working on various techniques, no longer caring about the pain of receiving the memories if it made him stronger. Likewise he was wearing large weight on his back for as long as it was safe and wouldn't damage his body.

Fuu knew her brother didn't take defeat very well but even for him this was ridiculous. It was the kind of training that would kill people without his healing factor and Kyuubi to help deal with the strain of the extra memories. He jogged over to a nearby okonomiyaki cart, setting Fuu down on a seat, much to her displeasure at being taken off his back, before plopping himself down in the seat next to her. To his surprise they weren't there for very long before Yukimaru ducked under the flaps; he took one look at Fuu, blushed and attempted to leave.

"Hey Yukimaru." Both of the younger teens froze, Fuu because she hadn't noticed the other boy enter and Yukimaru because he was caught. He turned shyly, waving at Naruto and Fuu, still with a small blush adorning his cheeks.

"Hi Naruto, hi Fuu." Naruto smiled broadly; this was just too good an opportunity to miss for teasing.

"Hey Yukimaru, why don't you join us, the okonomiyaki's on me." Yukimaru tried to say no, thinking of a plausible reason why he had to leave; however not finding any he was forced to sigh and sit next to Fuu. Naruto had made sure it was the only available seat remaining.

"So how are you doing Yukimaru? I haven't really had that much time to see you; settling into Suna well?" The younger boy nodded, not turning around in case he accidentally caught Fuu's eyes; they had been having a lot of awkward moments lately when that happened.

"Guren is really liking it; she says it's good to be finally somewhere where we can just be left alone to do our own thing." Naruto nodded with the same fond smile that hadn't left his features since he and Tayuya finally went to the next level in their relationship.

"What about you Fuu? You making sure Yukimaru is _settled in _well?" He could only laugh at the expression of utter embarrassment and annoyance that crossed over Fuu's features at the same time.

"Oniisan!" Naruto just rubbed her firmly on the back as he stood up from the cart and ducked under the flaps.

"Well I wouldn't want to come in between you two, have fun without me and try not to do anything me and Tayuya wouldn't do!" Fuu once again let her head drop to the counter of the cart in embarrassment as Yukimaru did much the same thing in a more reserved way. Naruto chuckled as he walked off; Fuu's training could always come later, moments for perfect teasing only came so often. He immediately hopped up onto a roof, trying to think where Tayuya might be and if that failed he would head over to see Gaara.

Unfortunately at that moment there was an enormous explosion from the centre of the village, the large cloud of smoke rising high into the air. Naruto spun to look at it, narrowing his eyes as he recognised the tell-tale signs of a summon. Wondering what was going on he dashed over, sometimes bounding across entire rooftops in stride as he rushed to the centre of the village. By the time he was on a high rooftop overlooking the square where many merchants flogged their goods the massive clouds of smoke and dust hadn't dissipated.

Naruto tried to peer through but it was impenetrable; he heard a scuffle, the sound of metal striking metal before he tensed. A shadow emerged from the dust, flying right at him; he had a kunai at the ready but was shocked when a young girl flew out of the smoke, crashing into him. He looked down only to grimace at what he saw, the girl was badly wounded; a large gash ran up her torso, looking like some kind of animal attack. She was already dead, there was nothing he could do for her except gently lay her down on the roof and close her eyes.

His hands balled up into fists and a snarl made its way onto his face, demanding to know who did this. He leapt down to the ground, making a small crater as he landed from all the weight he was carrying. He angrily glared out through the dust and smoke until it cleared enough to show a single figure, a short orange-haired man with his hair in a pony tail. He had the slashed forehead protector of Amegakure and wore the robes of the Akatsuki as he stood still, staring across at Naruto. Immediately the blonde noticed the man's strange eyes, a light grey with concentric ripples moving out from the pupil.

"Who are you?!" The stoic man didn't move, staring down Naruto with his strange eyes. As the dust cleared some more Naruto was shocked to see an enormous pair of centipedes, their bodies black and orange. They too bore the man's odd eye pattern and were staring at him with equal intensity.

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze?" Naruto's knuckles were white now; this could only be one man, the leader of the Akatsuki, Pein.

"I haven't decided on it yet." If the man was bothered by the half-hearted joke it didn't show on his expressionless face. Instead he merely stood there as the two centipedes rushed Naruto, moving surprisingly fast on their many legs. The creatures were huge and were barrelling down on Naruto fast so he quickly created a clone and both clutched their wrists. When the balls of energy had formed Naruto rushed forward to meet the creatures, the four of them meeting with a shriek and a large release of energy. Moments later and the Naruto's were left standing, the two centipedes disappearing in a flash of smoke.

"Is that all you've got Pein?" The orange haired man continued to stand impassively, nonplussed by the destruction of his summons. However both looked around when the wind began to pick up around the two of them, the sand on the ground spinning madly until it slowly coalesced into the form of an incredibly angry Gaara. Without a single word he raised his hand, the sand around Pein fluctuating dangerously before covering the man in an instance. There was no mercy in Gaara's pale eyes as he stared at the floating mass of sand that housed the leader of the Akatsuki.

"Sand Buri-"before he could pass judgement the sand exploded outwards, surprising both Gaara nd Naruto as they watched a large rhino suddenly appear in a burst of smoke. Before either reacted it was already charging them down. It met a wall of dense sand, but not before it released a roar, spearing the sand with its enormous horn. Gaara blinked as he felt the tip of the horn grazed his throat before his hand twitched and the entire creature was blasted backwards, returning to the smoke that had heralded its arrival. Again Pein seemed entirely uncaring that both his summons had been so easily defeated, staring at both Naruto and the Kazekage impassively.

"The Ichibi." Gaara narrowed his eyes at the man, already having come to the conclusion that Naruto had. Without any hint of hand signs there was another burst of smoke. When it cleared they could both see the form of an ox, its body riddles with various piercings, similar again to those that covered Pein himself. The only other difference was that this Ox was about the size of a building, and it stared straight at them. It too charged at the duo, its horns brought low to skewer the two of them even as they began to move away.

"Grand Bass Drop!" Both turned in time to see a small red comet suddenly descend on the ox, trailing a stream of lightning behind it before impacting on the ox's head. It tried to turn in time to meet the new arrival but it was already too late; in a blow that would shatter a small building Tayuya crashed straight into its head. The shockwave destroyed more than a few windows in the area as it released a sound that made even Pein cringe a little. The results were undeniable, in a moment of obvious pain for the ox its head caved in, causing it to vanish seconds later. Tayuya joined them on the ground a moment later, watching Pein with a critical eye.

"That fucker Pein then?" Both Gaara and Naruto nodded, tensed as they waited for the next attack; instead Pein just continued to stand there, as if waiting for something. It came in the form of a small green blur, shooting down from the sky; calmly, as if he were catching a ball thrown by a child, Pein raised his arm. Fuu appeared in his grip a moment later, surprise evident on her face before she winced as Pein began closing his hand around her throat. He turned his head, looking directly into her eyes with his strange, rippled pair.

"The Nanabi, convenient." His eyes opened a little wider as suddenly Naruto appeared in front of him, coat removed and fist cocked back, fury blaring across his face.

"LET FUU GO!" His fist impacted on Pein's face, momentarily contorting it before the orange-haired man was sent flying backwards, impacting with the wall of a nearby building. Fuu dropped to the ground, clutching at her throat as she gasped in breaths. Moments after Gaara and Tayuya were there, checking both of them were okay. Fuu stood up shakily, assuring them that she was alright before all four of them turned to where Pein removed himself from the wall, brushing off the rubble like it wasn't there.

"I see you're going to make this difficult." Naruto growled as the sands began to pick up and electricity began arcing off of Tayuya's staff dangerously. Pein merely stood up, putting his hands through a few seals before he was surrounded by a multitude of people. They all bore the same eyes and all but one shared his orange hair colour; each also carrying many piercings with the same black metal. The four shinobi looked across at all the new arrivals in Akatsuki robes, all of them shocked.

"Oh great, now who the hell are these assholes?" None of them could answer as they stared at the six men across from them, all of whom stared right back. There was a light gust of wind that blew between the two groups before Naruto suddenly disappeared, he dematerialised inches away from one of the men, a taller one with spiky orange hair not dissimilar from how his used to be when he was younger. His fist was cocked back but inches from touching his face it froze as if striking an invisible barrier.

"Shinra Tensei." Naruto's eyes opened wider in shock as he was blasted backwards at impossible speeds, never having been touched once. Tayuya and Fuu could only watch on in shock as he went sailing past them, drawing out a massive crater in the street when he finally landed on the ground. There was a moment as time paused before Tayuya and Fuu darted forward simultaneously, Fuu going for the original man while Tayuya aimed for the tallest of the group, a man with his orange hair in long bangs that reached down his chest.

The rest of the Akatsuki members would have helped their companions if walls of sand hadn't sprung up around them all. The one who Naruto had attacked merely stood calm, the sand bursting before it could cover him. Likewise the largest of the group held up his hands and the sand around him fell lifelessly to the floor. However the remaining two, a rugged looking man and a slightly crazed man wearing a beige shawl, could do nothing as sand whips knocked them off their feet. It bought Naruto enough time to stand up groggily and see Tayuya firmly smack her staff into her target, sending the man up and over a building, to which Tayuya quickly followed.

He would have followed her but at that moment the one with the shawl appeared in front of him. Naruto went to slide under the man's legs but out of nowhere a third arm flew out from under his robes, catching Naruto even as he slid underneath his legs. It picked him up and heavily tossed him across the clearing to once again skid down an adjacent street. With a smile reminiscent of Hidan the man chased after him, quickly followed by the man Naruto had originally tried to attack.

At this point Fuu had reached her target, the one she believed to be the leader of this group, the first one to have appeared. She was still sore about him catching her so easily and wanted some payback; payback in the form of her reared back fist. Unfortunately while fast for somebody her age, this man proved to be faster. He caught her fist, quickly diverted it to one side before doing something similar with her follow up attack. For a moment she realised he had just moved both her arms out to either side but before she could correct the large gap in her guard the man thrust both hands out, catching her in the stomach.

She was sent flailing back, making almost as deep a trench as Naruto had moments ago. She tried to get to her feet but the man was already next to her, lifting her up by her hair before painfully swinging her around once, releasing her so that she soared through the air. Before she could hit anything her wings burst out of her back, flapping rapidly to reorient herself to the ground. As soon as she did so she saw a massive bird-like creature suddenly appear, flying after her. Her eyes opened wide as she took off, darting through the sky as she tried to evade the bird, its summoner visible in its opened mouth.

That left Gaara in the clearing with the large man and the more rugged man, the three of them standing in the ruined square, eyeing each other carefully. Gaara had seen what the larger one did to his sand when it got too close so without even moving he tried to crush his second opponent. However the heavyset man was faster than he appeared, diving in front of his companion, arms outstretched as he seemingly absorbed the chakra right out of the sand. Gaara observed them again, noting their identical eyes and similar piercings.

"Interesting."

* * *

Tayuya smiled happily as she cracked off blow after blow on the strange orange-haired man in front of her, not really caring that her blows seemed to be doing minimal damage. The man was fast but with Tayuya's improvised swift release that she had been working on she was more than able to keep up. Her staff sung as the lightning chakra that coated it tore through the air, leaving nothing but a bright blur as she hit him over and over. Each time the man would block with an open palm, not even wincing but that seemed to be all he could do.

Unfortunately she grew a bit overconfident; attempting a wide sweeping blow she hoped would hit him in the side. He ducked under it, striking the staff at the last moment with unexpected force which nearly spun Tayuya on the spot. As it was she kept her feet rooted but suddenly found her staff out to one side, her guard completely open. The man lashed out with a hand, firmly clasping Tayuya on the top of her head.

Time seemed to slow for the girl as around her the colour drained from the world, everything becoming fuzzy as she felt all the energy leak out of her body. It was like every ounce of happiness was being leeched from her form, leaving her an empty husk. All she could do was look into the strange rippling eyes of the orange-haired man as her eyelids grew heavy.

"Go with the knowledge that your sacrifice will bring peace." Tayuya tried to blink but it was too hard, the strange words seemed muddled and unfocused, like she was hearing them underwater. She could feel herself dying, becoming slow and sluggish as the life was literally pulled out of her body. All at once the world snapped back into focus as her body was allowed to fall to the sandy ground, her breathing returned to normal as colour once again pervaded the world.

Looking up she saw the man holding the hand he had been griping her with; through the palm was embedded a small blade of metal connected to a tough thread. She looked around to see Matsuri with a determined expression on her face, holding the other end of the thread. She tugged out the metal dart, swinging the johyo around her head before lashing out with it again. The man tried to grab the weapon as it flew through the air but in an impressive display of control Matsuri manipulated the dart, pulling it under the man's hand to securely wrap around his neck.

Strangely Tayuya felt back to one hundred percent, as if the man hadn't touched her at all. Sensing her opportunity she forced as much lighting chakra through her staff as she could before squarely swinging it into the man's unprotected temple while he was off balance. He took the blow full force, flying across the street as Matsuri released him in time. Tayuya smiled confidently at the large hole in the building the man's body had made, swinging her staff once to place it on her shoulder.

Matsuri jogged over, concerned for what she had seen when she arrived; it had looked like the man was pulling some kind of spectral wraith out of Tayuya's body. However before she could make it over she had to suddenly duck as a long black spike sailed over her head. Likewise Tayuya was forced to draw her staff again to swat similar stakes from the air as the man pulled himself out of the wreckage of the storefront. Tayuya frowned when he didn't even look hurt; however his eyes had narrowed imperceptibly.

"Crap."

* * *

Fuu had similar sentiments as she darted through the streets, flitting between arches and buildings as her wings propelled her forward. She looked back only to immediately fold in her wings, allowing herself to drop as the gruesome bird summon soared overhead, its mouth open in anticipation. She unfurled them again to suddenly turn back on herself, pulling a barrel roll to fly between a particularly narrow window. Once out the other side of the building she pulled up, hovering for a moment to try and spot where her pursuer had gone.

She saw the shadow descending on her in time to roll out of the way, lashing out at the last minute with the kunai in her hand. She managed to get a solid gash down the creature's side, only to watch in surprise when it didn't disappear into a burst of smoke. Instead it angrily rounded on her, the figure standing in its mouth eyeing her warily. Fuu sighed as she once again pulled her wings in, dropping down to avoid the bird as it tried to eat her again.

Unfortunately it seemed to have learned from its last mistake and at the last moment in pushed itself down with more speed that Fuu could match while falling. Before she could open up her wings again she suddenly found herself enveloped by a dark, wet and humid cave. Nearly retching from the smell she tried to look around but was swiftly punched in the gut by a very powerful fist, flinging her further into the terrible smelling cave. She impacted with a soft wall with a sickening squelch, making her gag as she felt her back get coated in some kind of slimy substance.

Reacting on impulse she ducked under another strong punch, not even sure how she reacted to it without being able to see. She dived to the side, sliding across the spongy but wet floor before kicking to her feet. Hoping she had a moment of respite she began to concentrate, drawing on the chakra inside of her. Slowly a cloak of bubbling yellow chakra began to appear over her body as the two wings on her back lost their frail, translucent appearance.

Soon the entire mist cavern was lit by Fuu's biju cloak, the fluctuating yellow light casting an eerie glow on the pulsating red walls. Her pure orange eyes opened wide in shock as she saw a rod of black metal come soaring at her. Reacting on instincts alone she caught it, snapping the rod with one hand. Similarly she caught the foot aimed at her stomach, flipping the short man back against the wall of the creature's stomach. Fuu took a deep breath and when she exhaled a cloud of bright golden particles erupted from her mouth, covering the area in bright golden light. The man had to shield his eyes but by the time he did he was coated in the powder.

"Phosphorus Dust!" Fuu didn't even have to make a hand sign; with a mere thought the particles all suddenly erupted into flames. Expecting the man to cry out in pain at having his entire body set alight she was surprised when he simply fell to the ground, using the slimy substance over the floor to put himself out before he was too badly burned. He stood back up slowly, his eyes narrowed in minute irritation as he rushed forward again.

Fuu quickly spun, her wings outstretched to give her the appearance of a spinning top as her body became a blur of motion. Already she was straining to maintain her chakra cloak, the angry and violent thoughts already trying to take over her mind. The man impacted on the edge of her spinning form, taking one of her chakra-infused wings right in the chest as he was sent crashing back into the wall of the stomach. The force would have been enough to put a crater in the wall of a building but as it was it proved enough to finally disperse the summon.

It disappeared from around them and quickly the smoke cleared to let Fuu see the man dropping down below her. Apparently the summoned bird had flown quite high by the time it was dispelled. Fuu finally allowed the chakra around her body to recede; gasping as the bubbling cloak slowly vanished. She winced, it was still painful to use and left her a bit weakened afterwards but she couldn't deny how effective it was, the man tumbling to the ground far below them was evidence enough.

* * *

Naruto winced as he pulled back his hand, hitting the shawled man in front of him was like punching a metal pole. The man just grinned as he tried to punch Naruto, he blocked, feeling like he was defending against Tayuya's staff as he caught the next swing. He wasn't as surprised this time when a third arm suddenly shot out and he knocked it away with his foot. It happened again on the other side before a final two arms shot out of the robe, catching Naruto around the waist.

His eyes opened wide as the robes around the man were shredded by what looked like a folding metal tail that reminded him of Sasori's Hiruko puppet. Focusing his chakra he felt his muscles twitch in response to the lightning coursing through them as he sent out a large burst of wind chakra through the tenketsu in his front. He vanished from the man's grip just as the tail lashed through where he had been. Naruto smirked as he reappeared a few feet away before vanishing in a burst of unparalleled speed.

Suddenly the multiple-armed man was assaulted from all sides, receiving powerful kicks that would have sent him skidding away if he hadn't immediately received equally powerful blows from the other side. He tried to lash out randomly to hit the attacker he couldn't see but for Naruto the attacks were slow, painfully so. He dodged under another lazy swing before bringing his foot up and then down on the man's face in a powerful ax kick.

He was actually flipped from the intensity of the attack, landing on his back as the ground underneath him cracked from the force. Before Naruto finished him he was sent careening across the street to crash into a food cart. He emerged a moment later, covered in fruit as he stared at the orange-haired man with the spiky hair, his arm lowering to his side. For the first time Naruto noticed the distinct lack of a ring on the man's finger and when he thought about it none of them had.

"Who are you?" The man stood taller, still keeping his features set in an impassive mask while his strange eyes observed the blonde.

"I am the judgment of a god, come to teach the world pain so it may strive for peace." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the gibberish, not understanding what he was talking about. "This body is merely a vessel for a higher power, I am the Deva Path." The man that Naruto had been beating around the street stood up, using a few of his arms to push himself off the floor.

"I am the Asura Path."

* * *

Tayuya used her staff to deflect another strike from one of the strange black rods her opponent could seemingly produce from nothing out of his sleeves. She batted it away, not letting it touch her; last time she had let one of the rods scrape her she immediately felt dizzy and off balance. She knew enough about chakra to know the material somehow disrupted the flow of it in her body. She twirled her bo staff once before attempting to bring it down on the man's head. He caught it before turning to look at her.

"I am the Human Path" Tayuya snorted as she ripped her staff out of his hands, swinging around so it smacked him in the temple, once again throwing him across the street.

"I'm Tayuya, nice to fucking meet you."

* * *

Fuu flew as fast as she could, twirling her body through the air in an attempt to beat her opponent to the ground. She passed him a few hundred feet above the earth, catching herself on her wings before spinning in the air, firmly connecting her foot with the back of his head. He stopped in mid air, the force of Fuu's blow enough to halt his fall momentarily. She used the opportunity to grab his arm, using it like a lever to swing her body around even as he turned to look at her.

"I am the Animal Pa-" He didn't get any more time to speak as Fuu's foot connected with his stomach, launching him towards the ground even faster.

"Whatever."

* * *

Gaara was doing everything he could to try and crush his two opponents but they worked well in tandem, the larger one using his ability to absorb chakra to protect the other. His sand blocked yet another attack from the strange black rods they used before trying to swat the man away even as it fell to the ground uselessly. He was actually beginning to grow annoyed by opponents who had the uncanny ability to absorb the chakra binding his sand together; it was forcing him to think of other ways to beat them. Suddenly both stopped, looking at him strangely as the larger one spoke up.

"I am the Preta Path" Likewise the more rugged looking one to his left slid another rod out of his sleeve.

"I am the Naraka Path." Gaara coldly observed them, narrowing his eyes at the odd behaviour.

"I am the Godaime Kazekage..." The ground around the two of them erupted suddenly. "...and you will not leave my village alive."


	60. Chapter 60

Naruto was so confused by the strange man's words that he almost missed the Asura Path leaping at him. As it was he had enough time to duck down, letting the semi-mechanical man sail over head. At the last moment he struck out, grabbing one of his many hands before using it to slam the man into the ground, hard. Dust was sent bursting into the air as Naruto leapt back from the fresh crater he had just made with the man's body. It proved to be a mistake as he re-emerged from the smoke, raising one of his arms at Naruto who watched as it seemed to separate.

He blinked once at the odd tube-like contraption inside the arm, being reminded once again of Sasori in the way the Asura Path's body seemed to be filled with weapons. His blink turned into a look of disbelief as something was promptly fired from the arm, sailing towards him at astonishing speeds. Naruto leapt to the side but not before he felt whatever it was graze his shirt. He tucked into a roll as he hit the ground, turning in time to see the launched bomb reduce the building behind him into rubble.

Naruto looked at the smoking crater that had once been a clothes store in shock before pushing off the ground hard as he heard another of the projectiles getting let loose. Again he dodged it, but not by much; even with his healing factor he wasn't going to survive being blown apart. He knew from experience that this was only scratching the tip of the iceberg of weapons the Asura Path no doubt stored in its body. Not wanting to find out about the rest he came up with a plan, grinning as he dodged a third missile.

Feeling the familiar rush of chakra through his system time around him ground to almost a stop. He could see everything around him in almost perfect clarity, even pieces of rubble that just seemed to be moving lazily through the air like it was treacle. He rushed forward, kicking up a trail of sand behind him from the sheer speed he was moving, when he got close enough he smirked as he saw one of the bombs about to leave its tube. The man's eyes were only just beginning to follow him in shock but he didn't give him the chance as he quickly jabbed a kunai into the tube.

Dashing off to the other side of the square he turned in time to see the man blink once before the area around him erupted into flame and heat. Time warped for Naruto before everything caught up to him, rubble falling at the right speed again. He watched, panting from the exertion the technique put on his body, looking for any sign that the Asura Path had survived. His grinned when he saw a pile of machinery that looked vaguely human shaped smouldering at the bottom of a crater, it's warped and slightly melted tail blade glinting in the sun.

He didn't get long to celebrate before he was sent hurtling forward by some unseen, but definitely felt, force. He groaned in the crater he had created on impact, picking himself up while clutching his head; Kyuubi working overtime to fix him up. He looked around, clutching his healing ribs with slowly refocusing eyes that picked up the form of a spiky orange-haired man looking at him with irritation. Strangely he almost seemed to allow Naruto to recover, letting him stagger out of the crater before managing to stand straighter.

"Oh right, I forgot about you."

* * *

Gaara observed the two men, buried up to their necks in sand as calmly as he could; however between the six of them they had already managed to damage his village extensively. He narrowed his eyes and he closed his hand slowly, letting their bodies sink beneath the sands as he gradually increased the pressure on their bodies. Already he could feel his control over the larger man slipping as he used his annoying ability to drain away chakra.

He tried to crush the other man before he could do anything but he found his control over the sand around him as well. In desperation his clenched his hand shut, forcing whatever sand was still under his control to violently contract, hopefully crushing everything below him. Feeling a slight tremor beneath him he quickly formed a platform out of his sand before letting it carry him upwards, just as a strong hand burst out of the ground, intent on grabbing his leg. He watched with cold eyes as both of the orange-haired men pulled themselves up out of the sand; however the Naraka Path was now missing an arm.

"Gold Dust: Thousand Phantom Blades." He propelled the tiny golden particles forward as fast as he could, releasing them in a constant stream from the seal on his palm. However the Preta Path quickly launched himself into their path, arms outstretched. Before he lost control he diverted the particles, bringing them back to him to lazily orbit him as a ring of gold. His eyes narrowed in irritation, trying to come up with a solution to the problem the Preta Path posed. However even as he gazed at them evenly, the fingers of his right hand twitched ever so slightly.

Once again he sent a barrage of the dust down at the two of them and once again the Preta Path met it head on. However at the last moment he cut his connection with the dust, allowing the heavy particles to be carried forward by their own momentum instead of with his chakra. The Preta Path was unprepared for this and quickly raised its arms to shield its eye from being blinded. Gaara smirked, suddenly focusing all his attention on one spot behind the Naraka Path as more gold dust he had hidden there earlier burst outwards.

"Gold Dust: Kinpacku Tomb." The flurry of gold particles attacked the man, however instead of acting like a blade it began to congeal across his body, covering it with a fine layer of gold. The last thing to be covered were his eyes, staring up at Gaara in defiance even as his body froze, unable to move with the heavy coating of gold. Gaara paused for a moment before clenching his hand closed; the effects were immediate and the golden statue that was once the Naraka Path began to glow brilliantly. The gold dust heated up, melting onto the man before fusing together forever sealing his fate as a glittering gilded statue.

Immediately the other path rushed over, placing its hands on the statue to try and absorb the chakra only to recoil before the scalding metal burnt through his hands. There was no chakra left in the statue anyway, Gaara didn't need to maintain it once the actual gold dust had melted together. He would be able to break it down later into its particle form but for now he still had to focus on the enemy that was left.

"Do you know what temperature gold melts at?" The Preta Path stared at him blankly, with possibly a hint of irritation; taking its silence as an invitation to continue, Gaara did so. "One thousand degrees Celsius. By now the man inside of there is nothing but ash." The sands began to swarm around him, forming a loose shell that could harden at any moment. "Your fate will be much worse."

* * *

Tayuya dodged again, finding that right now it was all she could do; the Human Path had sped up remarkably, now apparently taking her as an actual threat. Already it had thrown Matsuri across the street and Tayuya could only hope the girl was okay, she couldn't check herself. Parrying a blow from one of the chakra rods she tried to feint to the left and get inside the man's guard, only to be swatted away casually. She landed in a three point stance, staff up behind her in the air before she slammed it, point down, into the ground.

"Treble Tremor!" It erupted in front of her as she sent incredible amounts of lightning chakra through the earth, heading in a somewhat straight line towards the Human Path. He was caught off guard, reacting too slow before electricity arced up all around him, passing through his foot even as the path jumped away. He landed, a little unsteadily, with one of his feet completely numbed below the ankle causing him to stumble. She noticed him blink once as he looked off to the left, towards where some of the other battles were taking place.

It was only a momentary hesitation but it was all Tayuya needed as she sprung forward, launching her staff ahead of her like a spear. The Human Path could only blink in shock as he looked down, finding a large five-foot metal bo staff embedded right in the centre of his chest. Tayuya smirked as she rushed forward to deliver the finishing blow, however she was expecting the man to be cringing in pain, unable to move from the lighting chakra coursing from the pole. That was why she was too surprised to act when his arm flashed out, roughly grabbing her by the top of her head.

Instantly she felt the all too familiar feeling return as the life was slowly and literally pulled out of her being. The man said nothing this time, only staring at her with those cold, almost lifeless eyes. Tayuya actually found herself trembling slightly as she sunk to her knees, the strength in her legs leaving her entirely. Colour drained away from her vision as the coldness permeated her very being; she felt something trickle down her face before she realised it was a tear. A single ice-cold droplet of water leaked from her eyes as she stared back at the orange-haired man.

She was crying because she didn't want to die, not like this. She may have put on a tough facade around others but Tayuya truly feared death. She wanted to live so that she could grow up with Naruto, so that she could continue to hold him at night, feeling his warmth through her. She didn't want to leave him alone the world and however selfish it sounded she wanted to be the only woman he loved. As more tears streamed down her face the seal on her shoulder began to glow a warm blue, meekly at first but quickly growing in intensity.

Her hair grew out, longer and fuller as it took on a bright pink hue; her eyes shifted, becoming pools of pure emerald that continued to cry tears in rivulets. Her body grew in places as muscles also strengthened, naturally becoming infused with chakra as a massive influx overcame her body. Nature chakra flooded in through the seal, quickly converted to something she could use, and use it she did. It was almost unnoticeable at first through the darkness that was clouding her vision but as soon as she saw that bright patch of blonde she clung to it, not letting go for one second.

Without even realising it her hand twitched, gaining life as the cold pallid tone that had overcome it receded for a moment. It slowly moved up before with trembling fingers it wrapped around cold metal. Reacting purely on instincts by this point Tayuya released all of her pain and anger through that contact, pouring it all out in the form of unbridled and unrestrained charka. The bo staff glowed brightly from all the energy rushing through it before the man's eyes widened uncontrollably.

Every muscles in his boy suddenly contracted and he lost the ability to control it, his grip on the redhead's hair loosened, allowing Tayuya to fall to the ground; however her hold on her staff didn't waver. Regaining control over her body she only increased the flow as the human path began to smoke, being cooked from the inside out by the violent lightning chakra coursing through his body. Tayuya slowly regained her strength, managing to get to her feet unsteadily, staring at the dying man with merciless emerald eyes.

"Like hell I'm fucking dying in the middle of the fucking street like a rat!" And with that she let go of her staff, but not before passing one last massive pulse of chakra through it, giving it everything she had left. The human path was unable to do anything for a moment, his muscles locked in place by the electricity still coursing through it. Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, he simply dropped to the ground, motionless. Tayuya cautiously walked over, kicking him once to check that he was really dead before sighing in relief.

After this was all over she was going to seriously thank Naruto for that seal, it had literally saved her life. She never intended to get that close to death again, not until she could live the life she wanted with Naruto on her own terms. Her eyes widened for a moment as she realised that Matsuri was still hurt and she quickly rushed over to see what she could do, or even if she could help.

* * *

Fuu smiled weakly as she watched the body of the Animal Path rocket towards the ground, flying after him to make sure he didn't try anything. She was almost expecting him to somehow produce another summon, saving himself from the deadly descent. However she was relieved when he simply impacted on the ground, the street exploding around him from the force behind the impact. Lightly she fluttered down, only to find she had interrupted Naruto's fight with the Deva Path, both of them now looking at the crater, one in shock and the other without emotion.

"Fuu watch out!" The mint-haired girl spun to the side on her older brother's warning, narrowly avoiding getting bitten clean through as a large dog jumped through the space she had been hovering. To her surprise when the dust and debris cleared she could clearly see the Animal Path standing, somewhat weakly, at the centre of the deep hole his body had formed. Fuu spun in the air again to avoid another dog, this one definitely aiming to clamp its jaws around her neck. She dropped to the ground to avoid a third before back peddling, unknowingly bumping up against Naruto.

The two spun before recognising one another; each smiled at the other but only briefly before both their eyes widened. Fuu was about to cry out to her brother but not before he suddenly tackled her to the floor; letting two snarling dogs sail over both of them, letting them both take the Shinra Tensei at full force. They were blasted back ferociously, but didn't make it very far before bursting into smoke. Naruto threw Fuu to the side and quickly unsealed two familiar blades, throwing them over to her. The mint haired girl caught them deftly, looking at them; a little surprised Naruto had given her the Kiba.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" Naruto grinned manically at her, jumping to the right as he avoided getting blasted by another invisible attack.

"Do what I do, swing them at random and really hope you hit something." He couldn't get any more out before he was violently flung high into the air, taking a glancing Shinra Tensei that had him spinning. Fuu just nodded in determination as she spun to meet the Animal path, her eyes opening in shock as she suddenly found two black rods swinging at her. She brought the blades up on instinct, trying to block the attack; to both her and the Animal Path's surprise the black rods were neatly bisected in two.

Fuu blinked once before grinning, lashing out with the two swords, trying to slice the orange-haired man in two. He jumped back, pulling his hands into a seal as he did so; immediately a large panda burst out of a cloud of smoke, attempting to gore Fuu with its large claws. She just jumped at it, using her wings to propel herself forward at speed with the two razor-sharp swords out in front of her. Like a small green drill she burst out of the other side, spinning furiously, not even looking back as the panda disappeared in smoke.

She grinned as the Animal Path put its hands together again for another summoning; however Fuu didn't let him this time, instead launching one of the swords at him. It was aimed at his chest but he jumped out of the way, only letting it skim his arm, drawing a thin trail of blood. Unfortunately for him he had jumped directly into the path of the second Kiba, this time he was unable to move and it pierced him directly through the chest, pinning him securely to the wall behind him. Fuu dropped to the ground, now huffing slightly, never having been in a fight this hard.

The Animal Path observed her coldly, unable to move but showing no sign he even felt the shining sword sticking out of his rib cage. Fuu caught her breath and stood up straighter, clutching her wrist like she had injured it. Energy began to coalesce in her palm even as the animal path raised a hand to Kiba's hilt, pulling it slowly out of his body and by extension the wall. Fuu was nowhere near as good with the Rasengan as her brother but he had taught her enough for this one last move.

"Firefly Rasengan!" She charged forward even as the ball of energy in her palm contracted down to the size of a small insect, glowing even brighter from the condensed energies. She thrust her hand forward, burying her palm into the orange-haired man's chest. She panted from holding back the energy before she finally let it go, using her wings to quickly pull herself back and into the sky. The Animal Path finally freed itself from the wall, pulling the sword from his body while ignoring the strange feeling in his chest.

Fuu just smirked before the street was filled with a blinding light as all of the chakra contained within the tiny sphere finally burst out all at once, shredding everything in its path. When the bright light finally faded there was nothing left of the Animal Path but the occasional scrap of black cloth that floated down from the sky. Fuu finally breathed a sigh of relief before falling to her knees, the exhaustion finally catching up to her.

"I did it Oniisan." She quickly passed out on the ground, her body too tired to keep going.

* * *

Gaara was forced to move backwards, raising the platform he was standing on away from the Preta path which continued to try and get close to him. Each time it would come close, only for Gaara to move further away and try and swat him down with a whip of sand. The large man would then proceed to absorb the chakra in the sand before it could cause him any real damage, landing securely on the ground below him. They continued this strange back-and-forth dance for a while, neither really able to gain the upper hand on the other.

Finally though, Gaara had enough time to think, and a Gaara that had a plan was a dangerous enemy. The next time the Preta Path landed he suddenly found more sand spikes leaping out of the ground to skewer him. He raised his hands to dissipate them but before they got too close they suddenly flared; what was left was a thinner, but more compact translucent spike. He still tried to absorb the attack, only to find no chakra in the blade of glass, allowing it to cut into his hand in a moment of hesitation.

Now that Gaara had an advantage he pressed it mercilessly, forcing the larger man to dodge and weave as glass spikes began to shoot out of every surface. They shattered on impact when they missed and gained glancing blows when they didn't, drawing more and more blood each time. Even as he had the orange-haired man dancing around on the ground to avoid him he began to gather a large cloud of sand above him, compressing it further and further until it weighed more than a house.

It glowed, being heated up until the sand particles fused, their molecular structures being reformatted until an enormous block of glass floated above the square. Gaara could only barely control it in this form, so he just let it fall to the floor, directly on top off the Preta Path. The large man could only look up as the massive translucent block descended on his body; he was already sprinting to the side but he knew he wouldn't make it out in time.

Before it hit Gaara exerted the last portion of control he could, shattering the block into thousands of deadly and chakra-free shards that quickly covered every inch of the square. He calmly observed the end of his rather anticlimactic battle, ignoring the ugly red stain on the ground in favour of trying to find where Naruto was fighting, hoping to help if it was necessary. He needed to put a stop to this before something bad happened to his friends, or his village.

* * *

Naruto had lost count how many times he had gotten close to Pein only to be swiftly launched back by some invisible force. It was like the man was untouchable, lending at least some credibility to his constant ranting about how he was a god. Naruto tried to tune it out the best he could, religious fanatics kind of bugged him at the best of times, in the middle of a fight where he seemed to be doing negligible damage was even worse. He got to his feet after climbing out of one of the numerous Naruto-shaped craters that now littered the street they had been fighting in.

Suddenly he felt his grip on the ground loosen as he was pulled forward, his arms flailing uselessly behind him as he hurtled towards Pein. The man had one hand extended out to him while a long chakra rod slid from his sleeve, held ready to pierce Naruto's body. Quickly Naruto flashed away, landing on a roof where one of his kunai had fallen earlier in the fight. There were a few scattered around but like he had just done they were only good for getting away, he couldn't get close one close enough to Pein to utilise the technique fully.

He sighed, putting his hand into a now almost instinctual seal before hundreds of copies of himself suddenly appeared al around the street, lining every rooftop. Pein seemed unconcerned by the sudden influx of orange surrounding him, even when they all simultaneously launched themselves at the man. He waited until the last minute, when all the Naruto's were as close as they could be without touching him. One of the clones even had a smile on its face as it reared back its fist, hoping to finally land the first strike on Pein.

"Shinra Tensei." Simultaneously all of the clones winced as they were blasted back, the shockwave of force moving in every direction. However what Pein didn't see thanks to the sea of orange covering his view were the few clones that stayed behind the rest, just staying on the outskirts of the attack. They finally landed, one of them hurling its fist right between Pein's eyes, startling the normally unflappable Akatsuki member as he was sent flying back.

His back was struck as one of the clones waiting behind him kicked him up into the sky, only to be smacked right back down by an improvised axe kick. Pein crashed to the floor, finally creating a crater of his own, even as he pushed away a few more clones that got too cocky. He stood back up, narrowing his eyes at Naruto as the boy jumped back into the street, staring defiantly over at Pein with a smirk.

"I knew it, there's a delay before you can use that attack again, a few seconds maybe." The spiky-haired man's eyes narrowed, the rings around his iris looking like they were actually rippling.

"Not many people have ever lived long enough to work that out." Naruto's smile only grew bigger before it reset into a more serious expression, cockiness could come later. He heard the footsteps before he saw who it was, turning to spot Tayuya running towards him, seal activated and Staff at the ready. At the same time Naruto spotted Gaara soaring over the buildings on a platform of sand as his smirk reappeared on his face.

He joined his friends in rushing the orange-haired man, each of them coming from a different direction intending to attack him from all sides. Naruto, being the closest, was the first to be attacked with Pein simply raising his hand as he had done for the entirety of the fight.

"Shinra Tens-" Naruto didn't allow him to finish as he disappeared in a yellow flash, reappearing no more than a millisecond later with two other clones beneath the man as they delivered joint devastating kicks, straight up.

"Na-

-ru-

-to" He launched Pein into the air catching the unsuspecting man unawares with the use of a seal he had just managed to place the last and only time he had touched him.

"SAND SOUND BARRAGE!" Pein looked around mid-air to see an enormous whip of air spear towards him even as Tayuya, covered in lightning chakra, came barrelling in from the other side. Pein's eyes only narrowed momentarily before the air around him rippled violently. There was a moment as time seemed to freeze to a standstill, all four fighters watching each other with trained eyes. Then it was over and the area around Pein erupted like no other explosion, the ground just seemingly blowing outwards like it was kit by an invisible asteroid.

Gaara managed to shield himself with sand, getting tossed backwards like a leaf in a storm while Tayuya took the full brunt of the attack, being thrown backwards through more than a few buildings. Naruto saw this out of the corner of his eye but was unable to do anything about it as he turned, sending as much chakra as he could through his body before sprinting at an ungodly pace away from the sphere of destruction very quickly expanding behind him.

Gaara managed to recover, high up over his village as he watched with wide eyes at the destruction a single attack had wrought. Over half the village, gone, just like that; there was nothing but one enormous crater, the only thing that told of anything being there before was the surrounding buildings. A single tear slid down the young Kazekage's cheek as he looked at his precious village, reduced to a near pile of rubble. Luckily he wasn't too far gone that he could reach out with all his power, halting the massive flow of rubble and earth that was spreading out from where Pein floated.

It took all is concentration but he finally caught the massive wave of what used to be buildings, and more than likely his citizens, before it could wipe the rest of Sunagakure off of the map. His senses were fuzzy as he floated there; already feeling the effects of severe chakra exhaustion overtaking his body as he limply began to descend to the ground, only slowed by his sand. He only hoped that Naruto could finish this, he had nothing left.

* * *

Naruto could only look around him at the destruction, buildings lying in ruin at the edge of the crater, fires springing up at random from the destruction, then the crater itself. One giant plain of almost glassed sand, smoothed by the invisible force that had caused it, and there, in the centre, stood Pein. Except a part of Naruto really didn't care about that, he was already running, straight out over the crater that used to be the centre of Suna. Except he didn't run towards Pein, he ran around the edge of the crater, staring in horror at the small path of destruction Tayuya's body had caused.

He tried to lock onto her with the seal he placed but it must have been damaged from her fall because it wouldn't activate, he couldn't even flash to her. He tried not to fear the worst but as he reached a particularly wrecked part of the city were the trail of destruction ended it was hard not to. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he fell to his knees, grabbing at chunks of rubble at random and pulling them away, sending them flying behind him as he tried to single-handily excavate the building.

He roared out in frustration, red chakra swirling around his body dangerously as three chakra tails swung violently behind him, destroying anything around him that was still standing in his anguish. Suddenly he turned, his eyes slitted and his elongated canines bared, as he locked onto the source of his pain. In a flash of speed rivalling his swift release he appeared in the crater once again, staring across with furious eyes at the dispassionate man at the centre. Pein just stood, observing the destruction he had brought in the name of his peace. He turned to see Naruto, watching the boy drop to all fours and glare at him.

"Now that you have known pain, maybe you can-"

"**SHUT UP!" **Naruto flashed across the clearing but was swiftly batted away as Pein raised his hand. The chakra-cloaked boy trembled in rage, trying again and again to breach the man's impenetrable guard only to get knocked back every time. He roared again in frustration before clutching his wrist as a sphere of chakra instantly formed, roughly the size of his head.

"**Bigger." **The ball expanded as he forced more chakra in, letting the sphere grow until it was larger than he was.

"**Bigger!" **It grew again, making him have to hold it above his body or risk being pulled into the maelstrom of energies.

"**BIGGER DAMMIT!" **Red began to leak into the monumental Rasengan as it swelled to the size of a small building. With one last deafening roar Naruto slammed the enormous sphere down, right on top of Pein. The release of energy it created almost rivalled that of Pein's village-shattering attack, the ground around the two of them being upturned as pure chakra ripped outwards, destroying everything in its path.


	61. Chapter 61

"-ble, where's the Kazekage? You two, go search through-"

"-bout the girl? She should be around h-"

"-at's that over there? Quickly I think it's-"

"-eel a pulse, quickly, hand me that! You two, stop standing around and help me! Quickly no-"

"-able, I think she's going to be-"

"-right we're done here, there are a lot more people that need help. Go to-"

* * *

Fuu opened her eyes slowly, finding even that simple action difficult as her eyelids felt like they were made of lead. Groggily she glanced around, trying to discern anything about her surroundings from the fuzzy images her brain was receiving. She saw a lot of white, blindingly so; it was enough to make her close her eyes again in pain from the sterile fluorescent lights above her. She sighed, knowing where she was from even that small glimpse; it wasn't just Naruto who had an inherent hatred of hospitals.

"Oniisan!" She suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed, glancing around and completely ignoring the pain in her shoulder. She confirmed her previous theory, looking around the clean white hospital room with worry. It was empty of staff but the few other beds in the room were occupied by a few other people. They all seemed to be injured to a certain degree, seemingly just minor wounds like broken bones or fractures, minor to her anyway. She could already feel Chomei's chakra knitting what was left of her injuries back together, the pain ebbing gradually.

With a small high-pitched grunt she swivelled on the bed, shakily placing her feet against the cold ground. She was just about to push herself off the bed when the door to the room opened quietly, admitting a young nurse. She looked up from her clipboard with a frown, only to jump in surprise when she saw Fuu nearly to her feet. There was a moment of pause as the woman just looked at her in shock before she rushed over, busying herself about Fuu in worry.

"Oh, the doctor told me you wouldn't be waking up for a few more hours, never mind getting to your feet. Please lie back down miss." Fuu just shook her head, her eyes crinkling as she thought about her brother.

"Please, I have to see my Oniisan. What happened? How did I get here?" The nurse frowned again as she looked down at the young girl before her eyes caught the headband on the table next to her bed She looked back to Fuu before sighing, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"I don't know much but there was some kind of explosion yesterday. Half the village was destroyed." Fuu's eyes shot open in surprise, wondering what had the power to do such a thing. "Am I right in saying your Oniisan is Naruto Uzumaki?" Fuu nodded hesitantly, not liking the tone with which the nurse was speaking. It was the same type of voice parents used to break bad news to their kids while trying to save their feelings. "He was involved somehow, he's..." Fuu's eyes opened a little wider as tears leaked out the corners.

"Is he dead?" The nurse sat upright suddenly, turning to the younger girl immediately with an apologetic look as she waved her hands out in front of her.

"No, no, no I'm sorry, no!" Fuu breathed deeply, releasing the breath she had been holding as she relaxed slightly. "But he is in critical condition." Fuu was straight back to worrying as she once again tried to push off the bed. The nurse put an arm across and if Fuu really tried she could have easily pushed past but she was tired, woozy and weakened from whatever happened to her. "Please, you were found under a pile of rubble near the edge of the crater, you shouldn't be moving around. In fact when you came in you had almost ten broken bones, the fact that you're conscious is astounding." Fuu chuckled sheepishly, knowing that it was her resident that allowed it.

"Please, I just want to see my Oniisan." The nurse seemed conflicted as she looked between her clipboard, the rest of the patients in the room and Fuu. Finally she turned around, staring into Fuu's large orange eyes before sighing, more to herself than anything.

"Okay fine, but only for a little bit and _after_ I've checked on the other patients." Fuu nodded quickly with a weak smile as the nurse quickly went about the room, checking the various clipboards that hung from the edge of the other patients' beds as well as quickly checking them over. Finally she came back to Fuu, offered a small smile and helped the younger girl to her feet. Fuu felt well enough to walk by herself but it seemed the nurse wasn't quite ready to believe she was as healed as she claimed to be as she maintained a firm, but gentle grip on her arm.

The two of them made their way through the winding corridors of the hospital, snaking around other doctors and nurses. It had Fuu blinking every time she saw another injured patient out in the corridors, the rooms apparently too full to hold everyone. As they made their way deeper into the Suna hospital it became obvious the conditions of the patients became worse. Missing limbs replaced broken bones and people were being actively rushed through on gurneys. It was true that the true battle was after the fights, in the hospital with the medics.

Finally the nurse, who by now Fuu knew was called Musubi, hesitantly stood by a door before casting one last glance at Fuu before opening it. The girl poked her head around the door cautiously, immediately noticing the four people inside. To one side Gaara slept peacefully in a bed, not even looking injured thanks to his sand armour. To his right was Matsuri, her head lightly resting on Gaara's chest as she slept soundly in a chair, never having left his side for a moment.

To the contrary when Fuu looked to the other side of the room it was a mess of various machinery and complicated equipment. Two blips echoed through the otherwise quiet room every few seconds, coming from the heart-rate monitors hooked up to Naruto and Tayuya. Fuu couldn't decide who looked worse, on the one side it looked like Naruto's body had been ripped up in various places, the skin sometimes opened and lightly bleeding. The doctors had done what they could before they had to move on, stabilising him so they could get to other patients.

Then there was Tayuya, some of her limbs were even more heavily bandaged than Naruto's, most set in casts. Her head especially was wrapped up in bandages so that only a small part of her normally noticeable red hair poked out. Both were attached to a drip that slowly released some clear substance into their blood as Fuu blinked at the sight. She had never seen her brother so heavily injured, he would always just spring back from anything. The nurse just looked at her sadly; in any other case the two would have been declared hopeless long ago but somehow they had managed to stabilise them.

"It was a miracle the girl survived. By all accounts her entire lower body should have been crushed by the rubble. By the time the medics found her she had been using medical chakra to sustain herself. She has multiple broken bones, a severe concussion and will most likely be comatose for a few weeks." The nurse sighed again as she looked over to the blonde, he was truly an enigma; none of the doctors even knew what was keeping him alive.

"As for your brother, he should be dead. He had over fifty broken bones, severe third degree burns, what looks like critical radiation poisoning and the worst case of chakra exhaustion we have ever seen." She sighed, knowing the boy would most likely be bombarded with questions from doctors when or if he ever woke up. "Even now his body is healing itself at an extraordinary rate, every time I come in he has less broken bones and the wounds just seem to knit back together. If I didn't know better I'd swear it was some kind of kekkei genkai." Fuu just nodded with determination, her brother would be fine; it would take more than this to take him out for good; although she did want to know what did this to him.

The nurse looked at the girl again before sighing, she had other patients to check in with and she knew the determined look on the girl's face, it had been the same for her when her brother broke his arm. She patted Fuu on the shoulder before walking out; she seemed to be fine anyway, at least not severely injured. Fuu shot her a thankful smile as she left before quickly making her way over to her brother's side, she would stay with him until the moment he woke up.

* * *

It had taken Naruto almost three whole days to finally wake up, once again astounding the doctors with his rate of recovery. Gaara had woken up only a day after, with orders to take it easy for the next week; he had re-assumed his position as Kazekage and waited patiently for his friends to recover. Like Fuu had for him, Naruto stayed by Tayuya's side every minute that she was unconscious, only ever leaving to get food or to use the bathroom.

Despite the doctors' assurances that she would be out for a long time, she managed to wake up after a week. One day her body had just remarkably lit up with green medical chakra, her wounds healing at an even more rapid pace than the doctors could managed, although they did facilitate it where they could. She woke up with blurry eyes and a splitting headache only to look down to see a mop of blonde hair resting on her stomach. She couldn't help but smile at the scene, knowing that Naruto probably hadn't left her side at all.

She glanced around, trying to get an idea of how long she had been asleep for but there wasn't even a clock in the sterile room. Sighing, she gently nudged Naruto's shoulders; when it looked like he wasn't going to respond she gained a smirk. Sitting up slightly to get better leverage and ignoring the sudden burning pain in her side she braced her arms against Naruto's body.

"HEY SHITHEAD, WAKEY WAKEY!" She roughly pushed him off with a smile, once again hiding the pain that even that simple action had cost her. She knew that whatever it was that took her out was going to keep her from active duty for some time, probably a few weeks at least. She laughed as Naruto woke up, even as he was tipping back; despite his honed reflexes he could do almost nothing as he tumbled backwards except brace his arms. He looked up at the ceiling, slightly dazed and confused before picking himself up and dusting himself off. He suddenly stopped mid-action as he turned to look at the bed with wide disbelieving eyes.

"Tayuya-chan!" He launched himself over, wrapping up Tayuya in a strong and warm hug that was surprisingly gentle; her body gave no protests as he wrapped her up. "The doctors said you would be out for ages but I knew you'd be awake in no time." Tayuya just smiled at the way he fussed over her, even if he didn't try to make it look that way.

"Well I'm sore as shit and feel like I haven't eaten anything for a month, how long have I been out?" Naruto smiled fondly; happy that even so soon after waking up Tayuya was still herself.

"About eight days, I kinda lost count. Time just sort of stands still in hospitals." As he said it he looked around in distain, even if he now had a sort of begrudging respect for the establishment that had probably saved both their lives, or at least Tayuya's.

"Eight days huh? That must have been one fucking big explosion." Naruto nodded again, this time with a frown as the memories of his final encounter with Pein flashed through his mind.

"Yeah, that bastard really did a number on the village. They've started fixing it but there's really only so much you can do with a giant crater." Tayuya's eyes shot up in surprise, she had been caught by the blast so was already unconscious before she saw anything. Even from the way Naruto said it she knew the damage had to be extensive. "Gaara still has to take it easy but once he's back to a hundred percent he can start fixing the worst of the damage, turns out being able to form buildings with nothing but chakra is pretty useful." Tayuya just smirked in agreement, also glad that Gaara was okay.

"So from everything I've heard I take it I pretty much got the worst of it?" Naruto just nodded, in truth Tayuya was really the only one who took the attack head-on, everybody else was only damaged by the damage it caused afterwards. "Yeah, before he came to fight, Gaara had all the available shinobi come and evacuate the civilians for the area; it was a good thing too. They only had orders to interfere if it looked like we couldn't hold our own. That all kind of broke down when Pein decided to blow a massive hole in the village."

Tayuya was now very curious, the way Naruto kept speaking about it the damage to Suna was massive, but she just couldn't fathom one person devastating an entire village. She looked towards the window but they were on the ground floor and she wasn't at a great angle to look out over the village. She sighed, supposing she would be able to see it once she was out of the hospital.

"So what happened after I got knocked out? I assume Pein was sent packing with his tail between his legs." Naruto nodded solemnly, pulling something out from behind him before he tossed a badly damaged and slightly singed Ame headband on Tayuya's lap.

"Yeah, you could say that." Tayuya just blinked in surprise, Naruto had taken down somebody who could level a small village and to her he didn't really look all that injured, even if he winced in pain every so often when he would move his side too much. She could get the details from him later, right now she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her; already her eyelids were beginning to droop as she let out a small yawn. Naruto just smiled kindly when he saw this, placing his hand over hers as she began to doze off.

"I'll be here when you wake up." Tayuya just nodded sleepily, not really hearing what he said but she found his warm voice soothing.

* * *

Suna was now well on its way to recovery, as long as Gaara had chakra he was able to erect buildings to the exact specification of the construction supervisors. The massive crater that had scarred his beloved village shrank every day as life began to return to normal. There were surprisingly few casualties in the village as a whole, most of the civilians having been successfully evacuated to areas not affected by the full-scale Shinra Tensei. However for one individual things were nowhere near normal; Naruto currently sat in his room in the Kazekage mansion, deep in thought over the large scroll laid out over his desk.

Numerous smaller scrolls surrounded him, some scrunched up, now useless and others having been furiously scribbled over only to be immediately crossed out again. He hadn't managed to shave in the last few days and his adolescent beard adorning his chin cause him to itch every now and then. Tayuya made a joking remark that he finally had whiskers on other places on his face which had drawn a laugh from him and Fuu. He made sure to visit her as much as possibly but as much as she enjoyed his company and attention he tended to be a bit smothering.

Now he spent his free time working on the one problem that had managed to elude him for so long now. The door to his room opened a crack; he noticed but paid it no real mind, he just assumed it was Gaara or Matsuri coming to see him. He was surprised then when a veil of red hair suddenly fell across his eyes as he was wrapped up in a large and warm hug. When he was finally released he turned with a smile to see Tayuya standing next to him, leaning against a single crutch as she tried to actively avoid putting pressure on her more badly-damaged leg.

Once she had regained consciousness her own medical expertise had greatly sped up her recovery but the doctors had still refused to release her. Apparently they had changed their minds, or at least somebody had changed their minds for them. He smiled, knowing that sooner or later Tayuya always got her way, no matter who was standing as an obstacle.

"Tayuya, why didn't you tell me you got out today? I would have helped you." Tayuya playfully slapped him around the back of his head as she gently eased herself onto his lap.

"Wouldn't have been much of a fucking surprise then would it?" Naruto just chuckled softy as he naturally wrapped one of his arms around her waist and planted a chaste kiss on her lips, at least until she slapped him again. "Anyway, it's not like I'm some bratty kid who can't even walk from the hospital to her own house." Naruto just nodded, knowing better than to disagree with her; she was just as stubborn as he was and they would have been arguing over it for ages.

"Cool, so how long until we can spar?" He only said it jokingly but Tayuya just smirked, standing up with some care before looking down at him defiantly.

"I'll take you right here Shithead, just bring it." However despite her jovial and slightly joking words she was unprepared for the blur that suddenly swept her off her feet. The two of them were across the room in moments before Naruto gently set her down on the bed before joining her. Tayuya just huffed pouting as she crossed her arms under her chest; she didn't enjoy being 'defeated' so easily. "Hey, no fair, I want a remat-"She didn't get much further before Naruto firmly pressed his lips up against hers. They parted almost a minute later with Tayuya's eyelids half-lidded and her mouth in a smile.

"Not exactly what I was getting at but I think that was good too." Naruto just stared at her in half-amusement, crossing his arms over his own chest as he pouted.

"Only good? Must be losing my touch." Tayuya just grinned happily like an academy student who aced a test.

"Oh I think I can help with that." Suffice it to say that neither of them were seen or heard from for the rest of that night.

* * *

Fuu sat on Naruto's shoulders as they both stood and watched Gaara effortlessly construct a house. The sand flowed around him in a stream, being directed by the various site planners and architects before solidifying into a rock-hard sandstone-like wall or floor. In all almost half of the crater had been re-filled and almost the entire residential district had been repaired. Thanks to the low casualty and injury rates nearly all of the active shinobi were still fit for missions so Suna didn't take any massive hits to its economy.

Fuu watched Gaara work in awe, always amazed by his natural ability to bend the sands to his will. It made her long for her own special ability like it, even if her biju did allow her to fly. Likewise Naruto watched his friend actively take part in the reconstruction effort, showing that even the Kazekage would pitch in to help. He was still too injured to be doing any heavy lifting so for now he watched from the sidelines but as soon as he could he would do his bit as well. He had his large scroll slung over his shoulder, nowadays he really didn't go anywhere without it so he could jot down any thoughts that came to him on the fly.

Tayuya had started walking without her crutches the day before, almost three weeks after what had now been dubbed the 'Pein incident' by everybody who knew of the attack in detail, namely anybody of rank chuunin or higher. The official story was that Suna had been attacked by an unknown enemy of incredible power but had been swiftly defeated by the Kazekage, Fuu, Naruto, and Tayuya. It was more for morale than anything else, even though it was true, if slightly exaggerated, people needed an inspirational story in times of hardship.

As he walked down the street Naruto noticed more and more people looking at him in admiration, hearing how he had been the one to defeat the leader of the attack. Even now the smaller, but still devastating crater at the centre of the destruction stood testament to the power of the Rasengan he had used to defeat Pein. Subconsciously he fiddled with one of the rings on his hand, still not having bothered to work out a way to take them off yet. Now that Tayuya was well enough to walk unaided he knew that Gaara would want to be talking to them both later on.

* * *

Naruto stood in front of Gaara's desk with Tayuya on his back; it wasn't really because she was too injured to walk, far from it, he just enjoyed carrying her around and she enjoyed being carried. It also slightly irritated Gaara that they would act so immaturely in the Kazekage's office, even if he insisted on losing the formalities between them. Currently the young Kazekage was glancing through a report on the current repairs to the village; he would be out helping like usual but he felt this meeting as too important to be put off for much longer.

"Alright, we've had some rest for now but we can't put off the fact that Akatsuki are no doubt still out there, plotting what to do." Tayuya looked at her friend oddly, a questioning look on her face as she glanced between him and Naruto who didn't seem surprised by the news.

"What? I thought that Naruto killed their leader." Gaara steepled his fingers, almost imitating Tsunade as he leaned forward on the desk.

"While it appears that way both Naruto and I have our doubts to the man calling himself Pein to be the Akatsuki's true leader." Naruto just nodded, upsetting Tayuya that he hadn't discussed these concerns with her before now.

"Yeah, Gaara's right. During our fight he only called himself a vessel for a higher power, it might have all been gibberish but we can't rule out the fact that the real leader might be out there somewhere. There's also the fact that all of the opponents we faced shared the same eyes, we don't know what that means but we're sure it's significant somehow." Tayuya nodded uncertainly, a frown marring her features.

"Alright, so Akatsuki still might be out there but so what? We still can't do anything about it, it's not like we know where they are or anything." Gaara just shook his head solemnly as he pulled out a few headbands from the drawers, laying them out on his desk. All of them were the same, all bearing the symbol for Amegakure and all of them slashed to indicate missing-nin status. "All of our opponents wore headbands identical to these yet the ones that have been identified since then have shown them to be of different villages." Tayuya furrowed her brow again in thought.

"So they wanted to implicate Ame, is that it?" Again Gaara shook his head, staring intently at the headbands.

"No, if that was their goal the headbands would not have been slashed. Why would they assume the identities of missing-nin from Ame if they weren't from the village?" Tayuya quieted down again, now in thought about the strangeness presented by the unusual headbands. "In any case I at least believe it deserves looking into." Tayuya nodded quickly, as did Naruto who had already been thinking along the same lines as Gaara for a while now.

"When?" Gaara swivelled on his chair, he had a perfect view of the scarred crater from his window and it always made him pensive to look at.

"Not until you are recovered completely; if it turns out there is something of significance in Amegakure then I want you at one hundred percent to make sure I'm not sending you to your death." Tayuya almost seemed ready to protest but the dull ache throughout her body told her otherwise and she just nodded silently. "In any case you will have two weeks to recover and gain your strength back, I'm sure there are things you can also work on without the use of your body as I'm sure there is for Naruto as well." Both of them nodded.

"Good, then get some rest, you're no good to the village if you overwork yourselves." He relieved another two nods before Naruto spoke up.

"So who would be going to Ame?" Gaara nodded, having predicted this would be one of the first things Naruto asked.

"Only yourself and Tayuya. It is probably best for an information gathering mission to keep a low profile and too many people would only attract attention to yourselves. Besides, with your shadow clones and Tayuya's genjutsu you are more than able to complete this mission by yourselves." Naruto nodded with a frown.

"So this is just recon?" Gaara nodded, sliding the headbands off his desk and back into a drawer.

"Yes, although if you are threatened you have my permission to protect yourselves. Avoid unnecessary conflict if possible, Ame are not our enemies at the moment and it would be preferable to keep it that way." He got more nods from his two friends, although Tayuya was smirking as she did so.

"So what about Fuu?" Gaara smiled softly, looking at Naruto in a mix between amusement and understanding.

"I know you care for her Naruto but she is a full-fledged kunoichi, not to mention almost fourteen years old now. You can't be watching over her forever. If the mission goes well you will be back in the village in no more than three weeks, until then she is more than welcome to stay at the mansion as she has been doing. Otherwise you could always ask Guren to keep an eye on her; however she is now a jounin of Sunagakure so she will be going on missions and won't always be available." Naruto nodded hesitantly, unsure of the idea of leaving Fuu for so long, they had never been apart for any extended period of time before.

"Don't worry about little minty Shithead, she'll be fine and you know it. She took down one of those Akatsuki goons didn't she?" Naruto gained a little more confidence, smiling in pride as he thought about Fuu's accomplishment.

"Alright, but promise you'll keep her out of trouble." Gaara nodded with a smile.

"I won't have to, Matsuri has taken an almost motherly liking towards her and she'll keep an eye on her even without me asking." At least that had Naruto feeling more reassured by that.

"Alright then, we'll let you know when we're fully recovered." Gaara nodded again as Naruto and Tayuya let themselves out, he had no doubt they would want to get back to full capacity as soon as possible but this whole event was certainly eye-opening for the young Kage.

* * *

It was almost reaching the time Naruto and Tayuya would have to leave the village for Ame and Naruto was packing their supplies into various seals around their bodies. Tayuya had recovered enough to begin physical training about a week ago now and from then the both of them had been slowly working their abilities back up to an acceptable level. In the meantime they had both been working on their individual projects, Tayuya on her genjutsu which she felt she'd been neglecting recently and Naruto his work in modifying the seal safely.

Tayuya was on the bed, stretched out in just her panties and one of Naruto's older shirts that fit her. It was taking all of Naruto's self control not to abandon his attempts at packing and go over and just roll around with her for a while. She had a way of looking unbelievably sexy even in the simplest of clothes and secretly Naruto believed she did it on purpose just to tease him. Right now she was lying on her stomach with her arms hanging over the edge of the bed reading a book Naruto didn't recognise.

"What are you reading?" Tayuya didn't answer; she instead just raised the book so he could read the title 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja.' He didn't recognise the name but he certainly recognised the author, the small picture of the white-haired sannin smirked at him from the back cover. "I thought the next issue of 'Make-Out' hadn't come out yet?" Tayuya sighed, placing a bookmark on the page she was reading before propping herself up on the bed with a look that clearly told Naruto she had been enjoying it until he interrupted.

"It's not from the Make-Out series; it's some kind of book he wrote a while back when he was just getting into writing. It's actually pretty good, there's none of the smut like he normally writes." She chuckled suddenly. "Maybe he wasn't always a pervert after all." Naruto smirked at that as well; not believing there was ever a time Jiraiya wasn't perverted.

"What's it about?" Tayuya just shrugged, already returning to where she was, completely ignoring her boyfriend as she got back into the book.

"Read it and find out." Naruto just nodded, returning to what he was doing while trying to ignore the alluring position Tayuya was unwittingly lying in, or possibly deliberately, he could never tell. He thought about what they were going to have to do in Ame. He didn't know much about the village except it was hit pretty hard in the Second Shinobi War and has been slowly recovering ever since. He did know that with his luck, it was going to get interesting pretty quickly.


	62. Chapter 62

Both Naruto and Tayuya were smiling as they finally got the opportunity to stretch their legs in earnest as they dashed across the desert, using what they knew of the terrain to make it across quickly. Finally they saw the strangely obvious border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rain, made more blatant by the light rain that began to fall around them. The two of them made more cautious and steady progress after that, travelling as civilians would to keep suspicion off them.

Naruto was already amazed by the variety they saw from the new country, despite the ever-present rainfall people went about their lives. There were a few sparsely populated villages spread out through the outskirts of the country, mostly farms and rice-paddies. The geography itself was also quite varied; hills, valleys, streams and rivers dotted the land and Naruto could even make out the vague shape of a mountain range in the distance. However despite the beauty of the country around them both shinobi couldn't help but feel it was dampened by the weather.

Used to living in a desert where water was a commodity almost as valuable as gold, the two just weren't used to seeing so much rain, even if they hadn't always lived in Suna. The natives seemed indifferent to it, or strangely in some cases grateful for some reason. The two were on an information gathering mission so they asked discrete questions every now and then. Most of the time the people were fairly guarded but it was in vain anyway; apparently the flow of information was tightly controlled from Amegakure itself as many people still believed Hanzo to be in control.

The two gave up, believing that either the people were playing dumb in hopes they would move on or genuinely didn't know anything. In either case they figured their search would be more fruitful in the village itself, not that they thought infiltration of a foreign village was going to be easy. The trudged on through the country, their respective spirits becoming more oppressed by the ceaseless and seemingly worsening rain that darkened the sky and flooded the roads, even if they were incredibly irrigated.

That was another thing Naruto noticed; it wasn't all that prevalent in the outlying villages but as they drew closer to the capital he began noticing the strange architecture of the country. It became painfully obvious when the two finally rounded the crest of a hill, only to look on in slight awe at the sight in front of them, the rain-swept city of Amegakure no Sato. Tall spindly towers of metal climbed into the air, each seemingly competing with those closest to it like trees in a forest. Everywhere you looked there was piping, taking away the rain that fell constantly and safely transporting it through the city's massive sewer system.

In all Naruto thought it reminded him of what his mindscape used to look like, if it was a city instead of an underground sewer, in fact it was almost uncanny. The two stayed there for a while, discussing the best entrances into the village while simultaneously deciding that the main entrance was out. They may have been discrete and almost non-existent in the rest of the country but the shinobi presence in Ame itself was more than obvious. They seemed well-organised and well-trained, performing routine checks on everybody entering or leaving the village through the conventional ways. It was just a good thing that Naruto wasn't a very conventional person.

* * *

If citizens of Amegakure had looked up that particular day they might have seen a lonely falcon fly furiously through the downpour that pervaded their lives. It dodged through the tall, haphazardly designed buildings, using the darkness provided by the cloud coverage to mask its flight. It settled down in the most deserted alleyway it could find, floating down to a graceful stop on the ground. If anybody had looked close they might have noticed the strange patterns drawn on the creatures back in what seemed to be ink.

Suddenly the entire bird just glowed for a moment before there was a large burst of smoke and two shadows were blasted into the darkened alley quite forcefully. The two took a moment to catch their bearings, looking rather dazed from the unorthodox transport before standing up and checking their surroundings quickly. Finally the slightly shorter of the two made sure to smack her partner around the back of his head before dispelling her summon.

"Make sure I never let you talk me into travelling by sealing scroll ever again okay." Naruto just nodded with a sheepish smile, he hadn't really thought it would be that bad in honesty. He just applied the same principle he did with his Fujin no Iki, using the technique that allowed him to seal chakra in order to create a space where they could temporary hide.

"Well it worked didn't it? And it's not like we haven't been that close before." He tried to placate her but the irritation in her eyes was quite clear.

"There's a fucking difference between close and fucking crushed together in a space the size of a fucking closet!" Naruto quickly raised a finger to his lips, signalling Tayuya to quieten down as he motioned to the end of the alley they were in. Even now the sounds of city life echoed through the more constant sound of rain pattering down on the streets or into the piping system. Tayuya sighed and nodded, she might have been stubborn and free-spirited but she understood when subtlety and tact were required and recon missions were such times.

They both quietly walked out into the streets, instantly blending in with the crowds with their non-descript rain slickers and covered hair. Both of them had left behind anything that might have identified themselves as shinobi or foreigners. As far as Naruto knew there wasn't really any single nationality from Ame, or at least one that was vastly different to Suna. The only thing that might distinguish them was their tanned skin as most people in Ame were relatively pale, most likely from the constant clouds that smothered the sky.

Tayuya fixed that by weaving a slight genjutsu about the two of them, simultaneously lightening their skin and removing Naruto's whiskers. For all they knew they were in enemy territory right now and they were the single most identifying factor about Naruto that might give him away. As they moved through the village they couldn't help but be slightly intimidated by the imposing architecture, not that they showed it. It was quite different than anything they were used to as they knew villages to be quite low and spread out while Ame was relatively small but stretched into the sky.

When they were alone Naruto created clones that henged into various random civilians before spreading out through the village. They would listen in to conversations and dispel to give Naruto the information they gained. Tayuya was there if the need for interrogation ever came up, she found her knack for that working under Sasori. It turned out people were quite loose with their tongues if they believed their body was slowly melting away beneath them.

After half a day of walking around and not getting any useful information the two of them stopped off at a small restaurant; out of the way enough that they probably wouldn't ask many questions. They gave a small smile to the woman working behind the counter of the little shop which was returned by a slightly curter version. They ignored the somewhat unfriendly gesture and ordered some food, both of them not really having much to say to the other at the moment.

Naruto kept glancing around as his gaze passed across a strange paper idol hanging on the wall where it wouldn't be dampened by the rain. He remembered that his clones had seen similar paper idols dotted around the village in various establishments like the one they were eating in. Now that he actually looked at it closely he realised it somewhat resembled a person, at least if they had wings and a halo.

"Excuse me, but I've noticed those paper idols around the village, what do they mean?" The woman stared at him for a moment with furrowed brows while Naruto quickly clarified. "My girlfriend and I are visiting family in the village; we're from one of the smaller villages on the border with the Land of Wind." The woman continued to stare before nodding with a small frown; however when her gaze flitted to the paper idol on the wall a tiny smile lit up her face for a moment.

"It's the sign of God's angel, letting us know she is always watching over us for him." Naruto gave a bemused smile but nodded all the same, knowing when not to press for information if he didn't want to seem suspicious. The two finished their meal shortly afterwards, thanking the woman before pulling up the hoods of their anoraks and stepping back out into the rain. They looked around for a moment before Tayuya turned to Naruto who just seemed to be looking off into the distance.

"So what now?" Naruto pointed off towards the other side of the street where a sign stood on a metal pole with various directions to sites around the city.

"How about 'God's tower', check out this stuff about the angel?" Tayuya just nodded, it wasn't like they had any other leads at the moment and usually the largest buildings were the most important so they could probably get some information anyway.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

When Tayuya had mentioned large buildings being important she definitely did not have this in mind. The tower was positively enormous, stretching so high into the sky that it hurt to crane their necks at the angle required to see the spire high above them. They could only imagine why Amegakure would need a tower so high, even if they hadn't noticed it before now somehow. Taking a deep breath they hesitantly tried the front doors, actually shocked when they swung open without much protest.

They had noticed that despite the looks of admiration from the villagers aimed at both the tower and the angel edifices people seemed to be avoiding the tower entirely. That was true for the inside as well; it was more barren than a stretch of the Suna desert. Naruto found himself strangely happy that the inside of the building did not match the outside. It maintained its neo-gothic style but the construction seemed less random and there were no pipes ferrying rain water every which way.

Right now they were at somewhat of a loss at what to do; they hadn't been expecting the building to be empty; it made finding anything somewhat difficult. Luckily, or unluckily dependant on viewpoint and hindsight, their problem was solved fairly quickly. The winds inside the room suddenly picked up as papers that appeared out of the walls themselves suddenly flocked together in the centre of the room. Naruto was instantly thrown back ten years to when the exact same thing had happened during his attempted escape from some bandits.

In a few seconds the paper took on a human form before solidifying, gaining colour and slowly becoming more distinct until a half-formed woman floated in the centre of the room. Her skin, clothes and blue hair all still looked like they were composed of paper, flaking ever so slightly. Her body just ended at a certain point in her robes, becoming more loose sheaves of paper that floated a few feet from the ground. The most remarkable thing were the two large wings, also made of paper, that extended from her back; truly giving her the appearance of an angel.

"K-Konan?" The blue haired woman only offered a fleeting smile.

"Hello Naruto, it's been a long time." The blonde could only stare at the woman in shock and disbelief; she was the one who saved his life all those years ago. She was also the reason he had met Tayuya, who he now couldn't imagine life without. Except for Gaara, Fuu, Tayuya, and Kurama she probably had the single greatest impact on his life for the better. And now she was standing in front of him, as a member of Akatsuki and his enemy.

"But why?" The blue haired woman just offered a sad smile which was soon swallowed by her usual impassive mask.

"I might be able to explain to you our past, the reasons why we fight for our vision of peace but it would be better to hear it from somebody else, someone who you will understand." She floated slowly to the ground, her legs reappearing as her paper form became more solid and her wings dissipated as the individual sheets of paper flew away around the building as little paper aeroplanes. Naruto and Tayuya weren't sure what to think, Konan was supposed to be thier enemy but right in front of them she was lowering her guard.

After a moment of hesitation Naruto relaxed, drawing his body out of its well-conditioned fighting stance. Tayuya shot him a wary look but he just shrugged; Konan had saved his life all those years ago, the least he could do was give her the benefit of the doubt this once. Gaara had told them to avoid unnecessary conflict and that was exactly what he was doing. Tayuya just sighed as she replaced the bo staff she had drawn on her back and also relaxed her body.

"Alright, lead the way." Konan nodded with a small and weary smile before turning on a heel and walking down one of the corridors. Tayuya and Naruto warily followed her but not before the blonde quickly applied a Fuijin no iki seal to the floor of the foyer. They jogged to catch up to the woman, walking besides her but staying out of her reach just in case. Naruto was ready at any moment to activate his swift release in response to even the slightest signs of a trap and Konan noticed the tension in their postures.

"I assure you that under this roof no harm will come to you, the God of Ame has decided it is time you and he met." Naruto furrowed his brow as he continued to walk alongside her.

"The God of Ame? You mean the leader of Akatsuki?" Konan nodded quickly, walking along in silence; Naruto did as well but his mind was clouded by confusing thoughts and memories. "When you saved me, all those years ago, were you a part of Akatsuki?" Konan nodded again, a short, curt movement. "Then why? Why save me when you knew what I was." Konan just smirked in amusement before the momentary gesture was swallowed by the mask again.

"Akatsuki was not always as it is today; our goal was never always to seek out the biju." Naruto furrowed his brow, wondering what had caused them to change their mind. "As I said there is somebody who could explain it better." She turned her head to look right at him, once again letting him see her eyes shine orange for a fraction of second "When I saved you I had no idea what you were; you were an orphan, that was all I needed to know." She returned to staring ahead at the corridor in front of them, letting silence wash over them.

Eventually, after winding their way through the extensive tower and climbing what seemed like an infinite number of stairs the three of them entered a large chamber. Right in the centre was a large machine supporting a frail and emaciated man with long red hair falling across his face in a limp sheet. His body was thin and his bones were visible beneath his skin. The machine he was in seemingly restrained him, or more likely supported him at the arms and the legs, giving him a slightly hunched over appearance. Most strange were the many large black rods sticking directly out of the man's back which Naruto instinctively knew were the same as those Pein had used as weapons.

"Naruto Uzumaki; it's almost ironic really." His voice was gravely, not unlike Gaara's but his words held more emotion, they were also slightly deeper. "Ironic that in the end my vision for peace was stopped by my own blood; in another time we might have been friends, family even." It was only a few words but already Naruto's eyes wee widened as his slightly tensed fist hung limply to his side. "Do you hate me Naruto?" The blonde just trembled, unsure of what to say.

"I-I don't know you." The man blinked slowly, taking time to process the information as his face remained set in a mask of sadness that clung to him like a cloak.

"I am Nagato, Nagato Uzumaki. War orphan of Ame, student of Jiraiya of the Sannin and murderer of Hanzo of the Salamanders. You would know me as the current leader of the organisation Akatsuki." Naruto's eyes widened even further, of course he knew the man might be lying, that it might all be a ploy to lower his guard but here he was, standing across from possibly the only blood family he truly had left in the world.

"Uzumaki... how?" Nagato looked up, his rippled eyes now clearly visible as he gained a small gasp of recognition from both teens.

"My mother was a refugee from Uzushiogakure, although I did not know that for many years after her murder at the hands of Leaf shinobi." Naruto's fists clenched back into balls; he was an orphan like him.

"My Rinnegan, the doujutsu you see in my eyes, activated that day. Since then it has been a curse and a blessing, giving me power..." he looked down at the machine that supported him for a moment as he paused "...and crippling my body." Naruto understood the burden of a power that was both dangerous and powerful, something that he had no control over. In so many ways he and Nagato were alike, yet they had gone down such different paths.

"How?" Nagato looked up at Naruto, their eyes meeting for a moment before Naruto continued. "How did it get to this; you of all people should know the pain and misery that violence brings yet you want to hurt those because of something that they had no control over? People like me or Gaara and Fuu. We never wanted to be jinchuuriki but we make due, finding precious bonds where we can just to keep living, having to prove to the world that we aren't the so-called 'demons' we contain." Nagato blinked slowly, once again absorbing what the younger Uzumaki was telling him.

"Your friends, they are important to you aren't they? You would do anything for them; even sacrifice yourself for them because you believe in them and what they stand for, because you care for them more than anything else in the world?" Naruto just nodded solemnly as Nagato continued. "I too had bonds like that once, precious people that mean the world to me. The war took that away from me, greedy men who understood nothing of pain and suffering, who didn't understand the lives they were destroying as they quarrelled over petty grievances." Konan looked away at this point, her mask finally breaking as a small tear found its way to the corner of her eye.

"This is how the world will know peace; once everybody understands true pain, true suffering through fear then they will know the consequences of war." Naruto frowned as his fist shook.

"How could you think that? What makes you any better than them if you plan on killing so many? How many has the Akatsuki killed already in this plan for peace? Hundreds? Thousands? I may not know Jiraiya very well but that can't be the dream he wants. People have to understand each other, find bonds through love that can defeat their hate." Nagato sighed deeply as the machine around him moved so he could better look at Naruto.

"You are young and while you think you have experienced suffering you still maintain that naivety. It is a fools dream; people will always harbour hatred, always experience greed and anger. That is what makes such bonds special in the first place and also why losing them devastates lives." Naruto hung his head, letting his unrestrained hair fall over his eyes.

"I understand that you must have lost somebody precious to you, that your life was probably even harder than mine but that's no reason to give up on humanity. You should fight harder to save it." Nagato let out a humourless chuckle, his frail body shaking from the minute exertion.

"Your words are inspirational, you carry the spirit of our clan but people are not changed in a day, words alone will not change the hearts of men. I hate war, it took everything from me and I loathe the world that allowed it to happen, that will not change. In honesty a part of me hopes you are right, that you can find a way to peace that I could not see in my hatred clouded vision. I am sad that I may never live to see it." He hung his head sadly, although it wasn't much of a change from his normal expression.

"My body is weak, my abuse of power has taken its toll and even the strength of the Uzumaki blood that flows through both of our veins cannot help me. I will die soon, leaving the world with nothing more than my legacy, the destruction I have wrought through my paths and my singular attempt at attaining peace. A small smile finally graced the older man's slips, his gaunt cheeks turning up slightly at the gesture so unfamiliar to his face.

"Good luck in your own path to peace Naruto. I once asked you to look after a young orphan, purely because I didn't want to see another lonely girl have to grow up in a world that she would one day come to despise. I wanted you to save one person from the life that I lived..." he turned and looked straight at Tayuya as she looked back at the man who had brought Naruto to her, giving her life meaning however indirectly. "... and you have done exactly that. Even if I die tomorrow, I die knowing that my actions have at least brought one person happiness. That would be what Yahiko would have wanted."

"But why do you have to die? Let somebody help you, I'm sure Lady Tsunade would..." Nagato looked up, letting his rippled eyes gaze directly into Naruto's own, piecing him and making the blonde stop mid-sentence.

"That's enough Naruto; my time is coming to a close. I wanted to talk because I wanted to see how you would react to the cause of your pains being right in front of you. You have shown me compassion, despite being your enemy, you have shown me tolerance in letting me tell my story and you have shown me understanding, even if it was in a slightly naive way. If there is anybody that can achieve what I could not then I believe it will be you. Jiraiya-sensei once told us something right before he left, that even though we weren't from Konoha we carried in us the will of fire. I didn't know what he meant at the time but I believe I see that in you now."

"I'll do it." Nagato looked up in surprise, narrowing his eyes in Naruto's direction. "If there is no way to true peace and you're right then I'll make one. As long as there are people in this world that are worth protecting, that believe in me and will support me, I'll never give up. I won't just do it for them; I'll do it for you too!" Nagato let out a small gasp of surprise. "I want you to see that you're wrong. I want you to live to see the peace that Jiraiya wanted so much and that's a promise!" Nagato blinked slowly before closing his eyes and exhaling softly in a sigh.

"You could help people, use your powers to stop wars and end suffering instead of causing it by hunting the jinchuuriki. I know you could be healed, I'm sure Lady Tsunade could do it and if she won't then I'll make her!" Tears had begun to gather at the edges of Naruto's eyes. "We're so alike, our lives are like the same story told with different characters and you're the last family I have. I would be dishonouring my family if I did nothing to help you, please let me help you!" Nagato looked down, staring at his own frail body, the machine that was the only thing keeping hi m upright.

"Your eyes; even in all this confusion, all this hate and suffering that surrounds our lives, your eyes are clear. In all my pain and hatred towards the world I forgot what Jiraiya-sensei taught me, the very spirit you seem to have found on your own." He sighed again as he looked down at Konan to his side. "It seems that even with the eyes of the Sage of the Six Paths I was blind, maybe you can see more clearly that the Rinnegan." The smallest of smiles tweaked at the edge of his mouth.

"Maybe it would not be so terrible to finally try and let the hate go." He turned, the machine once again allowing him to move his body to look down at Konan. "I-I'm sorry Konan, Yahiko would never have wanted this, I've failed him." The normally emotionless woman stared at her old friend in a small amount of shock and amazement.

"Nagato, he, I..." She sighed "...he would have understood, he always understood." Nagato nodded slowly and sadly as thoughts of his oldest friend flashed through his mind. He gulped and took a deep breath as he turned back to where Naruto stood.

"Naruto, please help me."

* * *

Naruto stared across at the silent blue-haired woman who just calmly stared back, neither of them backing down as they held the other's gaze. They had been forced to move to another room while Tayuya went over the damage to Nagato's body. Preferably Naruto wanted Tsunade to help him but Tayuya had pointed out that it would be pointless if she could help him. She may not have been a medic on par with Tsunade herself but she was good in her own, unorthodox way. Only if she felt that she could do nothing for him would they consider asking Tsunade for help, he was still technically the enemy after all.

"What happened?" Konan was surprised when Naruto finally broke the tense silence that had filled the air around them.

"What do you mean?" Naruto sighed, looking in the direction of the chamber where Nagato and Tayuya were.

"What happened to make him this way..." he looked back at Konan again "...to make you this way." The bluenette blinked rapidly for a moment, processing the unexpected question. She seemed hesitant to answer but after a few seconds of Naruto continuing to bore into her with his bottomless blue eyes she relented.

"Nagato wasn't always the leader of the Akatsuki, that position once belonged to our friend, Yahiko. We grew up together, ever since the war drove us from our families, like our own little family. He had a dream, the dream that Nagato believed he was still following until today; he wanted to bring peace to our home. He formed the Akatsuki to aid him in that dream; he called it red dawn because that was our goal, to see the rains finally lift from our home." Naruto nodded slowly, knowing that this Yahiko was very important to her if the way her voice was catching ever so often was an indicator.

"The previous leader of our village, Hanzo of the Salamander, the man who named the Sannin after they held their own against him, he retaliated against our group." She looked away from him in shame for a moment before dragging her eyes back over to his. "He captured me, held me hostage while Yahiko and Nagato could only look on. He promised them that I would be released safely if Nagato killed Yahiko. He refused, holding out a kunai in trembling hands, unable to do it, unable to kill his best friend." Naruto just nodded with a frown, horrified by the decision Nagato was forced to go through with.

"He couldn't do it, wouldn't." She looked away again, tears beginning to become evident in the corners of her eyes as she relived those horrible moments of her life. "But Yahiko, he would never want to see anybody hurt because of him, he was the most selfless man I ever knew. He drove himself onto Nagato's kunai, killing himself, but not before passing on his dream. After that Nagato killed them all, all the shinobi Hanzo had with him. The man himself escaped but later on, Nagato, he..." By now she was sobbing and Naruto couldn't help but place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

At the contact Konan immediately sobered; a lifetime of hiding her emotions and covering up behind a mask was hard to break. She sat a little straighter, wiping the tears from her eyes as she drew away from Naruto's touch. Hesitantly he withdrew his hand, not knowing if what he did helped or not but respecting her wishes all the same.

"Konan?" The paper angel looked up, her eyes now slightly red from her tears. "The night you saved me, the night you introduced me to Tayuya..." He pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and showed her the small pink petal mark that to this day had yet to fade "...why did you give me this?" Konan chuckled lightly, glad for the distraction from her previous tears. She waved her hand over the mark and let Naruto watch in amazement as thousands of miniscule shreds of paper, probably no larger than width of a hair, were drawn out from the mark until it was gone entirely.

"How did you expect me to make sure you were keeping your promise?"


	63. Chapter 63

Tsunade groaned as she leant back on her comfortable but damnable leather chair, cursing whatever gods were forcing her to go through this ceaseless paperwork. Every time she felt she made even the tiniest dent into all the documents and reports Shizune would just come in and dump on some more. Secretly she wondered if this was some kind of payback from her long-time apprentice but dismissed it; Shizune was the nicest person she had ever known. Still, it was a pain and she just wished something interesting would happen to break the monotony.

Of course she would come to regret those words when a hand lightly touched her shoulder making her jump almost an entire foot into the air. The ANBU of the room were equally startled by the sudden appearance of somebody who wasn't Jiraiya. Immediately the mysterious stranger with the hood of his coat drawn up over his face was surrounded on all sides by ANBU with kunai pressed up against more than a few vital areas, as well as a not-so vital area that was precious to him all the same.

"Woh Tsunade, I wasn't really expecting such a hostile welcome." Tsunade just groaned as she recognised the voice; of course Naruto would be the only one brash enough to simply flash into her office unannounced.

"It's okay ANBU, let him go." The shinobi guarding the room looked at her curiously but knowing better than to defy their Hokage's orders they swiftly returned to the shadows. Tsunade turned her attention back to the sheepishly grinning blonde as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I guess I should have knocked first?" Tsunade sighed but still managed to give a small smile at the sight of her godson.

"What are you here for Naruto? As nice and... interesting as your visits are I am very busy at the moment." Naruto smiled awkwardly again, unsure of how to proceed now that he was here; he had such a good speech in his head as well.

"Uhh, it's kind of a long story." Tsunade just looked down at the mountain of paperwork on her desk with distain before leaning back on the chair.

"I have time."

* * *

Tsunade had a worse headache than the time Jiraiya had properly challenged her to a drinking contest. She looked up at the blonde in front of her before returning her fingers to rubbing the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Sometimes she called Naruto an unpredictable ninja out of fun but it was times like these where he actually proved her right. She could only begin to imagine how Naruto had managed to get himself into this kind of position.

"Okay, let me get this straight Naruto, you found the leader of the Akatsuki in Amegakure, he's a former pupil of Jiraiya and not only did you not attack him but you're actually asking me to heal him of some strange injury that has left him crippled?" Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment as he tried to remember if she left anything out.

"Oh yeah, he was also the one who saved Tayuya when I was younger and Konan saved me, it's how we know each other." Tsunade leant even further back on the chair, threatening to tip it backwards as she shook her head in exasperation. After a few seconds pause as she mulled everything through in her head she finally stood up, slipping on her coat.

"Alright, let's get going, I want to make this quick if possible." Naruto gawked at her in surprise, wondering if it was this easy to convince a sannin of anything. He was going to have to experiment with Jiraiya later but for now he had to deal with the ANBU dropping down from the ceiling.

"Hokage-sama, we really must protest. You would be deep in enemy territory and at their mercy unless Naruto can bring you back." Tsunade stared at the single ANBU but she could tell his views were mirrored by the others hidden in the shadows.

"And what would you recommend?" The ANBU still looked shocked, even if his features were hidden behind his mask.

"Hokage-sama, please understand that we are only looking out for your safety an-" Tsunade quickly raised a hand, effectively cutting the ANBU off mid-sentence before looking at Naruto.

"How were you planning on getting me to Amegakure?" Naruto smirked as he held up a kunai in response, swinging it lazily around his finger as the Hokage and guards got the gist. "And how many could you transport using it?" Naruto stopped swinging the kunai, holding it up to his chin in thought.

"Well theoretically as many as I like as long as their combined chakra was less than my own, or effectively sealed so it won't be dispersed during the process and mess up my concentration." Tsunade had nodded, worried at first by the masses of chakra stored up in her Yin seal but if it was okay sealed up then she had no problem. "I've taken the Nanabi's chakra through before so I guess it's mine and Kurama's together it has to be lower than." Tsunade raised an eyebrow; most would be hard-pressed to get even close to those kinds of levels, even as a group.

"So how many of my ANBU could you take through including me?" Naruto shrugged, it was all speculation anyway; it wasn't like he had attempted more than one other person anyway.

"I guess three or four?" Even Tsunade had to look surprised at that, the ANBU were no slouches when it came to chakra capacity and neither was she, for Naruto to actually believe he had ore chakra than four of them combined, plus her; it was impressive. Instantly three other ANBU dropped from their hiding places as Tsunade turned to the original, pinning him with a demanding look.

"Is this arrangement acceptable?" The ANBU quickly nodded, cowering slightly under the woman's harsh gaze; in the end she was the Hokage and it was her decision anyway, he was happy for even the small concession on her part.

"Yes Hokage-sama, if you would give us some time to get prepared-" Naruto quickly cut in as he quickly gathered up everybody in the room.

"Sorry, not time for that." Immediately everybody felt a strange tingling sensation before the six people simultaneously vanished from the room. The single ROOT operative stealthily hiding in the corner of the ceiling gaped in surprise; he had a lot to tell his master.

* * *

Contrary to his usual jumps everybody managed to end up in a rather uncoordinated bundle on the floor of the lobby in God's Tower. Naruto was really going to have to talk with Nagato about that name; it was just way too egotistical. The ANBU, despite their rather awkward position, managed to quickly stand up and dart off into the shadows. They were doing their job, staying in defensive positions to ensure that the Hokage was protected from any threat. Tsunade also sat up, but in a bit more of a huff as she wiped off some dust from her clothes.

"What the hell was that brat? I was jumped by your father once and I still managed to stay on my damn feet." All she heard was a muffled groan before she looked down to see Naruto spread out on the floor with her firmly sitting on top of him. She quickly stood up, wiping the tiniest blush off her face as she felt the ANBU snicker at the compromising position. Naruto just stood up in a move strangely reminiscent of Jiraiya as he didn't seem at all injured.

"Eh, I've never had to transport so many people before. I'll work on my landing next time." Tsunade just snorted before she allowed Naruto to hurriedly lead her through the various winding corridors that made up the strange building. With a small start Tsunade realised this was the first time she had been back in Amegakure since Hanzo had declared her Jiraiya and Orochimaru the Sannin, simply for not dying against him.

Eventually the two of them, and undoubtedly the ANBU as well, managed to make it to the chamber where Nagato was resting. It turned out that all Tayuya could do was slightly ease the stress on his body that was causing him pain; she couldn't actually heal his emaciated body. Right now he was resting on a comfortable-looking bed, on his side of course lest the spike dig even further into his back. Tayuya had managed to remove a few of the smaller ones safely but it turned out that many were now incredibly interwoven with his chakra network, the reason Tsunade was now here.

The older blonde could only stare at the frail man, so helpless looking on the bed. She remembered when the sannin had first encountered the trio of orphans with Jiraiya staying back to train them and make sure they would be able to take care of themselves. The man and woman before her looked so different compared to the innocent young kids she had left behind on that stormy day. She knew they had both seen some terrible things in their lives, just as Naruto, and even she had.

Like Naruto she also realised that he had his reasons for what he did, even if she believed it was wrong. However if Naruto was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt she was too; she had found the blonde to be a good judge of character so far. She made her way over to the stricken redhead, ignoring Konan as the woman stared at her icily, not afraid to fight a sannin if it would protect Nagato.

"So you're Pein." It wasn't a question. As the man looked up his hair once again fell across one eye in a sheet, leaving only a single Rinnegan visible.

"I used that alias when posing as one of my paths yes. At the time it felt... appropriate." Tsunade just nodded curtly.

"Know that I am only doing this because Naruto asked me, if it were up to me you would be paying for your crimes as we speak." Nagato nodded wearily as he lay his head back down on the bed.

"You do not have to remind me that I have made mistakes in my life but I thank you for at least agreeing to try and help." Tsunade took a breath as she looked over the frail man again, he just looked too frail to be of any real danger, despite the obvious threat his eyes posed. She closed her eyes before her hand began to glow a warm green.

"You might as well watch this Tayuya, I can already see what you did and it's impressive for somebody self-taught; everybody else though, get out." Konan looked ready to object but Naruto came up behind her, placing a hand n her shoulder.

"Tsunade knows what she's doing, she's lived long enough to see plenty, just give them some space." He heard a growl from across the room as he was forced to dodge under a large chunk of masonry that was thrown his way.

"I'm a Kage brat, show some damn respect." Naruto just grinned as he pulled a protesting Konan out of the room, leaving Tsunade and Tayuya with a now slightly nervous-looking Nagato. Tsunade turned back to her patient, running both her hand and eyes over him critically. "Well, I can say with certainty that you royally screwed up your body; luckily whatever those chakra rods on your body were transmitting too seemed to have been destroyed. That means your body is no longer expelling a constant source of chakra." Nagato looked up at the blonde woman curiously as she clarified.

"The chakra in your body, at least when not in use, naturally flows around your body, it is what gives energy to your cells and allows them to do their baser functions. Shinobi train their chakra so that it can be temporarily diverted from this, letting them perform jutsu. It is also the reason no shinobi, not even ones like Naruto, can fight forever as eventually their cells need the chakra to function properly. Whatever these rods were doing, it was like using a constant jutsu; your chakra was dangerously diverted from the rest of your body."Nagato seemed shocked at the revelation.

"Don't worry though, now that you have effectively ended the jutsu your body will eventually readjust and heal itself." Nagato sighed as he rested his head back down on the bed. "However..." His head immediately shot back up "... the rods themselves now pose a danger, for the past few years they have begun to integrate themselves into your chakra system in an attempt to increase efficiency and not kill you. If this had continued for much longer there would have been nothing I could do and removing hem would be impossible." Nagato returned to his nervous state.

"However you are once again a lucky bastard due to that constant fluctuation of chakra caused by the jutsu. It was like the rods were trying to integrate into a chakra system that wasn't quite there. Naruto was lucky to have brought me when he did; if your chakra system had already reset then there would have been nothing I could do. As it is he's given me a small window of about three days in which I can help you." Nagato sighed in relief, although he didn't get his hopes up based on how the conversation had gone so far.

"So you can help me?" Tsunade nodded solemnly as her glowing hands continued to roam across Nagato's body, making sure she didn't miss anything. She looked up in surprise when she passed it across Nagato's face, or more specifically his eyes.

"Nagato, did you know that these aren't your eyes?" Both the redheads in the room blinked in surprise. As they simultaneously looked towards Tsunade.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade focused more closely, her palm glowing a bit brighter.

"These eyes were transplanted into you, probably when you were extremely young based on how your body hasn't rejected them. The person who did it was quite skilled, not a perfect job but excellent all the same." Nagato furrowed his brow as he thought about that particular piece of information.

"That's impossible, I remember the day I activated my eyes perfectly. It was when my parents were murdered." Tsunade just sighed as she shrugged.

"Perhaps they were transplanted before then, before you could remember." She thought deeply for a moment. "What colour were your eyes before they became like this?" Nagato also went into through, trying to think back that far, it was such a long time ago now.

"Black I believe or a very dark brown." Tsunade scrunched up her mouth into a frown, trying to think of the implications.

"That isn't right, as an Uzumaki with red hair your eyes should have been purple, that's how they all were. I remember that from my grandmother. Black eyes changing into a doujutsu under duress, if I didn't know any better I would say that was the sign of an Uchiha. Who was your father?" Nagato shook his head sadly, he didn't know much about his parents; only that his mother was an Uzumaki.

"I do not know." Tsunade continued to frown but she felt this conversation could at least wait, for now she had to heal him.

"Alright Tayuya, I hope you're ready because we're going to be in here a while. I just hope you're a fast learner because my curve is pretty steep." Tayuya just nodded confidently before the two of them went to work; that was the last thing Nagato saw before he was put under a strong anaesthetic.

* * *

If the situation wasn't so serious Naruto would have found it quite amusing to see somebody so stoic and emotionless actually pace in worry. Even so, he didn't say anything and continued to allow Konan to walk back and forth between the two ends of the room, even if it was a little annoying. They two of them had been waiting for over two hours for Tsunade to come back out with any kind of news and even Naruto would be lying if he said he wasn't a little anxious.

Naruto didn't know why he suddenly cared so much for Nagato, it could have been the fact he was family, or it could be that their lives were so similar. There was also the fact that all his life he had wanted an older brother; he would always consider Gaara family but it wasn't quite the same. There would always be that childish wish to have an awesome older brother who would teach him cool jutsu or how to be an amazing shinobi. He just sighed to himself as he stretched out on the table he was sitting on; maybe in another life.

He watched Konan pace for a bit longer, understanding her worry; Nagato was her last friend, her only connection to Yahiko that remained. If it was Tayuya, or Gaara, or Fuu in there than he was sure he would feel the same way. In fact, he had been when Tayuya was still unconscious after Pein's attack. He had to chuckle to himself, ever since meeting Nagato he had separated those two entities in his mind.

On the one hand there was Nagato, the misguided boy who grew up alone and had to watch his best friend kill himself to preserve his dream. He could relate to Nagato, understand him and forgive him. Then there was Pein; the cold, emotionless man who had tried to harm him and his precious people, destroyed his village and attempted to kidnap the jinchuuriki. For some reason Naruto couldn't put those two together in his mind, he figured it helped that the Pein in his mind was now dead. Finally the two were brought out of their respective thoughts as Tsunade walked back in.

"Alright, he's stable and I managed to remove all of the rods from his back. There was a brief scare when one of them acted up, nearly shutting down his chakra system but with Tayuya's help we pulled through." At that point a very tired-looking Tayuya emerged from the room, looking ready to drop to the floor. Naruto quickly made his way over, taking one of Tayuya's arms across his shoulders to keep the sleepy girl standing. Tsunade turned to Konan, looking at the woman critically as each stared at the other.

"He is going to be weak for a few weeks; he should not try anything strenuous like jutsu." She sighed as she looked back at Naruto, smiling at the image of him helping Tayuya walk around in her exhausted state. "However in a few days he should begin to gain mobility in his legs and arms, you should have him walk around carefully at first but as long as he doesn't try anything stupid he should be walking unaided in at least two weeks." Konan blinked in surprise, amazed at how easily Tsunade had done what nobody else could and at how easy it all sounded.

"He's really going to be able to walk again?" Tsunade nodded with a small smile, it was the best part of her job as a medic to deliver the good news of a successful operation. Konan seemed lost, for the longest time she had been the one caring for Nagato in his weakened state, she almost didn't know what to make of him returning to how things had been before. Finally she settled for the faintest of smiles as she looked up at the older Hokage.

"Thank you." Tsunade just nodded curtly before turning to Naruto.

"Alright brat, I think I've been gone from Konoha long enough, time to go back." Naruto just nodded as the ANBU that had been hidden around the room appeared. Strangely Konan didn't even seem shocked, of course she knew because most of the ANBU had been right next to the various sheets of paper she had camouflaged on the walls. Naruto took a deep breath as the six of them held onto one another again.

* * *

At least this time Naruto managed to stay on his feet as he reappeared in the Hokage's office, once again to the surprise of the single ROOT operative hidden in the room. Naruto ignored him, merely thinking he was somebody left behind to guard the room while the Hokage was away. Tsunade also managed to keep on her feet, even if she was left slightly dizzied by the experience while the ANBU once again shot off into the shadows.

"Well brat, at least you always know how to keep your visits interesting." Naruto just nodded with a small smile, nodding as he glanced around the room; he was eager to get back. "Take good care of your cousin and watch him, make sure he doesn't go back to how he was before." Naruto nodded again, this time with a small smirk.

"Hey, he's not just my cousin; don't forget that he's your family too." And with that Naruto vanished without another word, leaving Tsunade slightly shocked with his last words. Upon consideration she realised that he was right; her and Nagato were distantly related. Not to the same degree as him and Naruto who for all they knew were cousins, but still. She sighed with a smirk as she pulled out a bottle of sake from her desk _'Always keeping it interesting'._

Of course at that moment Shizune burst into the room with a pile of paperwork half her height, earning a large groan from Tsunade as she slumped forward on the desk _'Naruto, please come back!'_

* * *

Naruto reappeared in Ame with a smirk; it was always fun to leave somebody speechless, even if he didn't get to see it. He made his way through the tower, a least knowing where he was going this time as he made a beeline for the main chamber. He walked in only to see Nagato peacefully resting on a bed, the rods in his back removed and his skin having gained a more natural tone. In all the older Uzumaki just seemed healthier and Naruto was happy, now maybe he could finally stop living in the past and move forwards with his life.

He smiled at the scene before he spotted Tayuya calmly passed out on another bed, obviously exhausted from the extensive operation. He figured he would get the details from her later, for now he walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. He wasn't waiting for long before Konan re-emerged from a side corridor, walking in while looking down at some documents with a critical eye. Ame may have been a smaller nation than the five major shinobi villages but they had their fair share of paperwork to deal with too.

She looked up at the blonde and if she was surprised at this sudden reappearance she didn't show it. Oddly she offered him a warm smile before setting the documents aside and walking over.

"I assume you two will be going back to Suna now?" Naruto nodded with a sad smile.

"Yeah, we could stay but I feel we should let you and Nagato recover for a while. Plus it's going to take a lot to convince Gaara that what I did wasn't completely idiotic." Konan raised a single eyebrow, looking at Naruto with amusement.

"Which it was." Naruto just chuckled and nodded cheerily, they could agree on that.

"Yeah but it worked out for the best in the end." Konan nodded with her own more controlled smile as she looked over to where Nagato was resting.

"I haven't seen him rest so easily since Yahiko died." Naruto smiled as he took in the resting form of his cousin.

"Yeah, I guess it isn't too easy to sleep propped up in a big ass machine with so many spikes sticking out of your back." Konan shrugged, in truth that was probably part of the reason. She turned back to Naruto with a sad smile, remembering that this was the boy that they would have previously killed in order to obtain the Biju he carried.

"Thank you for everything Naruto Uzumaki." The blonde just gave his signature grin.

"Consider us even." Konan smirked and nodded, but not before she pulled Naruto into a brief but warm hug uncharacteristically. He was just glad Tayuya was asleep otherwise she would have seen his bright blush as the blue-haired woman separated from him.

"You really do remind me of Yahiko, I only wish his body could have been saved. I would have liked to bury him properly." Naruto nodded sadly, maybe if he had known at the time he could have held back on the giant rasengan, then again he wasn't of the soundest mind. Konan stopped reminiscing for a moment as she produced a ring out of her pocket while simultaneously slipping off the one on her own finger.

"Before he fell asleep Nagato wanted me to give you these, he believes that in a way you did 'defeat' us, so it's only right." Naruto just looked at her quizzically as he accepted the two rings, bringing his total up to eight. "The Konan and Nagato that you met no longer exist, they have effectively died."Naruto just nodded while Konan held out her hand. Paper from the room quickly flocked to it, folding and crumpling in front of him as it became a simple but elegant bouquet of flowers.

"Give this to Tayuya when she wakes up, it's my thanks to her for everything she did for Nagato." Naruto nodded with a warm smile as he accepted the flowers, noting that they almost felt real in his hands. He quickly slipped on the two knew rings, only leaving his two little fingers free, Zetsu and Orochimaru's rings.

"I'll see you and Nagato soon to check up on you. Remember, if you go back to how you were before I'll have to beat you myself." He said it with a large grin as he hoisted Tayuya into his arms, resting the bouquet of paper flowers on her as he waved heartily.

"I'll keep that in mind Naruto. One last thing; be wary of Tobi, he is more than he seems." He winked at her confidently before producing a single kunai out of nowhere, passing it over to her quickly.

"I'll be fine, if you ever need help, just throw it and I'll be there." Konan nodded with a small smile before both he and Tayuya disappeared into thin air. Konan's eyes lingered for a while on the spot they had been standing before drifting down to the kunai in her hands. It was a symbol of trust between them, one she would certainly not abuse, not after he brought back Nagato to her, at least the way he used to be. She looked over at her friend fondly, vowing to do everything she could to speed up his recovery as she moved over and sat down on his bed.

* * *

Gaara was idly flicking through some reports on how the repairs were going before a sudden sense of foreboding overcame him like he was about to receive some shocking news. Right on queue Naruto flashed into the room in a blur of yellow and red, a sleeping Tayuya in his arms and two new rings on his hands. He bore a large cocky grin that Gaara new would not bode well for him as he leaned forward in his chair.

"Hey Gaara, have I got some news for you."

* * *

Naruto walked through the streets of Suna with Gaara by his side; they had taken Tayuya to bed earlier after Naruto explained what she had been through. Gaara was still somewhat dumbfounded by it all, even if he knew that Naruto wouldn't lie about such things. He was walking with his fingers around the bridge of his nose in exasperation; if he could count on one thing it would be the headache he got whenever Naruto had 'news' for him.

"You do know what you did was completely idiotic right?" Naruto just sweat dropped, wondering if Gaara had a way to psychically listen to him over great distances.

"Yeah, but it worked out alright didn't it?" Gaara sighed as he lightly shook his head in disbelief.

"That, or you just made our enemy stronger by removing a crippling handicap from him." Naruto blanched as he realised Gaara was right before he calmed himself, knowing that Nagato was not his enemy any more. He had given Naruto his ring; that alone was a sign of trust between the two of them. Even if it wasn't so, Konan was holding one of his kunai and there was a seal in the middle of their lobby, he could flash there any time he liked.

"You told me to avoid conflict." Gaara shook his head with a light smile; he should really just expect these things from Naruto now.

"Unnecessary conflict, that wasn't what I meant if you came across any Akatsuki members, especially their leader." Naruto shrugged innocently as Gaara sighed into his hand again.

"Hey, can't change the past." Gaara just nodded his head, accepting it.

"Yes well, next time you see them I would like to come as well, verify their newfound allegiances myself." Naruto nodded happily, he hadn't expected Gaara to be so understanding about the whole situation, not that he was unhappy about that fact.

"Alright, so how's the village coming along?" Gaara smiled, glad for the change in topic as the two old friend walked around their village, catching up.

* * *

Back in Ame a single red eye peered out of a hole in an orange mask as it stared down at the bed where a peaceful but vulnerable Nagato rested. It narrowed in irritation as Konan re-entered the room before the air around it began to warp and twist. Soon all but the single red eye warped out of existence before it too vanished into thin air. _'How very irritating.'_


	64. Chapter 64

It was a warming scene to see Naruto walking through the village with Tayuya, the couple hand-in-hand. It had been three days since their return from Ame and they had already been sent off on a mission together. They had completed it quickly enough, just a simple escort mission for some higher ranking but paranoid official. Naruto had questioned the need for an A-ranked mission but Gaara simply said the man had paid for one and they weren't going to refuse an easy mission that paid well. Naruto was more bored than anything else but it had been successful, not even a bandit in sight.

Now they were back and on their way to a training ground where they would meet Fuu and Matsuri. The two of them were training the younger girls in preparation for the upcoming Chuunin Exams. Of course Naruto knew his little sister would pass it with ease but he had to be ready in case it was anything like his were. He was going to be so proud up in the stands of the arena, watching her fight for her right to be a chuunin. A small part of him was hoping Gaara would let him proctor one of the stages but he couldn't get his hopes up, it was usually a job for chuunin or tokubetsu jounin.

"What were you planning on teaching little minty today anyway?" Naruto chuckled, still not quite used to Tayuya's affectionate nickname for Fuu.

"I dunno, depends what you're going to teach Matsuri I guess." Tayuya huffed with a smirk, wondering how she got stuck with becoming a glorified tutor. She wasn't really complaining as she and Matsuri had become somewhat friends but it was still strange to be training a girl only a year younger than her.

"Well I can't really help her on her affinity considering it's earth so I was going to try and teach her some broader jutsu." Naruto nodded in agreement, thinking about his own student.

"I guess I could teach Fuu some more wind jutsu, they'll probably help her out a lot considering she can fly." Tayuya grinned, a mischievous smile overcoming her features.

"Somebody jealous?" Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement, chuckling lightly.

"Maybe a little, who wouldn't want to fly?" Tayuya shrugged somewhat agreeing with him; personally she liked the ground, a lot safer than hundreds of feet in the air only supported by a few flimsy wings.

"So what about you? How's that thing with Kurama you two have been working on?" Naruto grinning happily, glancing back at the large scroll around his shoulders.

"Actually, now that you mention it-" Tayuya looked to her left in shock when she realised Naruto had just vanished from her side; he looked around in surprise, blinking.

"Kami damn it! I hate when he does that."

* * *

Naruto stood tensed, feeling the rain pour down over him, soaking his clothes and flattening his spiky hair down. He had responded immediately to the tug on the seal adorning the back of his neck, only to find himself standing on a large body of water with the city of Amegakure in the background. He looked around in confusion, wondering why somebody had thrown one of his kunai here only to watch in shock as he saw Konan looking at him with pleading eyes, a large pipe through her body.

He could only look on in horror as he saw Tobi behind her, holding onto the pipe with one hand, his body looking damaged and his mask broken. Konan saw him and with a burst of energy she broke away from Tobi, pulling herself off the pipe and backing away from him towards Naruto. He caught her before she could collapse, supporting her with one arm while glaring across at the formerly masked man.

"Konan, what's going on?" The blue-haired woman gritted her teeth from the pain in her stomach but managed to stand on her own two feet.

"He's after Nagato, he want to steal his eyes while he is weakened." Naruto returned to glaring at Tobi while he began to slowly lead Konan away from him towards Ame.

"Go, protect him, I'll deal with this guy." Konan tried to refuse but her body was weakened by her injury and couldn't.

"He's dangerous, you have to..." She trailed off when all three people realised something, the rain had stopped. They all looked up at the sky to see the clouds parting, a single solitary rainbow stretching across the blue sky. Konan's eyes widened at the sight, not remembering a time when Ame's skies had cleared naturally. She smiled, taking it as a sign as she broke away from Naruto's arms.

"Thank you Naruto, and good luck." With that she slowly made her way back in the direction of the city, not risking using her dance of the shikigami to fly there in her condition. Naruto suddenly caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, diving quickly as he caught the sharpened pipe before it could spear Konan again. He turned his glare back to Tobi who stood impassively on the calmed waters.

"Your opponent is me." The man with the cracked orange man just chuckled darkly as he stared at the younger blonde.

"It would seem so." Naruto cracked his knuckles menacingly as he removed his coat, instantly feeling lighter as the weighted clothing was removed. He did the same thing with his jounin jacket and scroll, placing both on a nearby rock that jutted out of the waters as he turned his attention back to Tobi. The man had removed his mask entirely; apparently it was now doing more harm than good anyway. Naruto was almost disappointed with what he saw; the mask had made the man so mysterious.

Beneath it was just a man, a man with a Sharingan; his left eye however was closed and bleeding while the right side of his face was heavily scarred and warped. Naruto put it down to something Konan must have done as he settled into his taijutsu stance, taking a deep breath. Tobi on the other hand seemed unconcerned; Naruto didn't take being underestimated all that well. He charged forward at impressive speeds, speeds even Tobi's sharingan had difficulty keeping up with. All he left behind him was a stream of kicked up water before he was already in front of him enemy.

Tobi didn't even move as he allowed all of Naruto's high-speed attacks to faze right through his body, none of them landing for even as second. Even though he wasn't connecting Naruto maintained his relentless assault, not even giving Tobi a moment to counter-attack. Tobi watched on with a raised eyebrow in amusement, not having moved an inch since the fight started. After about two minutes of this his remaining eye narrowed and in a lightning fast move he grabbed Naruto's wrist, pulling him up into the air before slamming him back down into the water.

Instead of allowing his body to be painfully smacked into the sea Naruto let himself sink underneath the waves. He just floated there for a few seconds as he tried to come up with a plan, preferably he would have liked a bit more foresight before engaging Tobi but Konan had kind of dropped him right into it so he had to make do. He grimaced before swimming to the surface, pulling himself up onto his feet as he once again took to staring across at his opponent.

"You just going to stand there and do nothing?" Tobi shrugged, once again annoying Naruto with how nonchalant he could be. Naruto tried to surprise him by suddenly throwing a kunai straight at him, only for him to allow him to faze through his body. He turned with a smirk to catch Naruto as soon as he emerged from his Fujin no Iki but his eyes opened wider in surprise when he felt a searing pain through his back.

"Rasengan!" Tobi was launched forwards, skidding across the surface of the water almost comically before he caught himself. He stood up, grimacing from the pain of the attack, rolling his shoulders to ease it out. He turned to face Naruto again only to find the boy already in front of him, fist cocked back. He had no time to react before he was harshly punched straight in the face, repeatedly. Finally his senses caught to him and he activated his Kamui, but not before he felt suitably disoriented. He staggered backwards, growling as he clutched his face in annoyance, the blows didn't particularly hurt but it was more a matter of dignity.

"You are faster than your father, I'll give you that." Naruto's eyes just narrowed in irritation; he was still trying to work out how the man took a rasengan straight to the back. Toib should be dead or at least paralyzed from something like that. "But it's going to take a lot more than that to beat me." Naruto Just nodded slowly as he once again settled into his refined taijutsu stance, summoning three shadow clones in the process.

"Good to know." He tried to be calm but his mind was racing, coming up with anything and everything he could use to beat Tobi. '_Jutsu are out, he'll just turn intangible the second I try to make hand signs. The only seal-less jutsu I know are the shadow clones and henge, not going to help me here. Maybe fuinjutsu? I don't know if a barrier seal would work on him and he's probably too smart to get trapped like Hidan. I can't use the Fujin no Iki properly because of the water and if I move the fight into the village it's going to cause too much damage.'_

Naruto growled in irritation, he had never faced such an untouchable opponent before, literally. He was brought out of his thoughts when the air in front of Tobi began to warp uncontrollably, only for a large black portal to open up. Naruto widened his eyes as a set of large shuriken suddenly came out of the portal at surprising speeds. He dived to the side to avoid them but was forced to sacrifice a shadow clone as it dived in front of him.

He rolled to a stop on the water, hurriedly getting up and looking around to try and find any other traps. _'Well that was new, but I smelt him that time, it seems he has to stop being intangible to use any jutsu, including the strange ones like that portal. That's the only time I can attack him but how can I get to him fast enough before he can re-activate it?' _Naruto practically slapped himself on the forehead in irritation as he remembered about his swift release, now he just had to find an opportunity to use it. Tobi didn't seem all that intent on giving himself such an opportunity as the air around him twisted again.

Expecting another attack Naruto tensed but this time the portal simply expelled something into Tobi's waiting hands. He was surprised when it just seemed to be some kind of large fan, the kind of weapon ancient shinobi clans would use. He didn't doubt its effectiveness though when the sharingan-wielder suddenly rushed him, bringing about the fan in a heavy downward swing. Surprised by the man's sudden burst of speed Naruto could only dodge on reflex, but he was swiftly put on the defensive as Tobi continued his assault.

Naruto would back away, thinking he was safe, only for Tobi to appear around him randomly, swinging the obviously weighted fan. Naruto would keep him in his line of sight and move away only for the man to suddenly release the fan, guiding it towards him via a chain that proved to be surprisingly manoeuvrable. Naruto suddenly found himself at a disadvantage both in close and long-range combat, unable to touch his opponent. The only times Tobi was even tangible were when he was attacking, it confused Naruto as such a technique must be unbelievably taxing yet he showed no signs of fatigue.

Naruto decided that he was at a greater disadvantage at range and quickly closed the gap between them. Likewise, Tobi retracted his battle fan, bringing it up in preparation for any attacks Naruto might bring. They continued their fight, Naruto trying to attack Tobi while he just turned intangible while he would in turn attempt to counter attack only for Naruto to dodge with his lightning fast reflexes. If anybody had been watching they might have called it the most evenly-matched fight they had ever seen and neither combatant even seemed remotely tired yet.

Finally in a move of desperation Naruto broke himself of his natural urge to dodge the weighted fan; instead he caught it, instantly regretting it. He felt his arm break in more than three places as the incredibly heavy fan smashed through his arm. However it accomplished what he had wanted it to, it surprised Tobi long enough for a second Naruto to suddenly appear out of nowhere, viciously cracking Tobi in the back of his head with a devastating kick that sent the man flying across the water. The sharingan-user stood up in irritation as he watched the Naruto he had been fighting wave to him cheerily before poofing away in a cloud of smoke.

"Ah yes, shadow clones, Sensei would always use those in our training. He would let us think we beat him before letting them dissipate and swiftly putting us in our place; something about humility or like it." Naruto just stared at the man impassively as he rambled, not particularly caring about how he was trained.

"I take it you didn't learn that lesson then?" Tobi just shrugged again, knowing it irritated Naruto to care so little about their fight.

"I was a different person at the time." He glared at Naruto as the two squared each other up.

"What changed?" Tobi smirked as he charged forward, battle fan at the ready.

"I grew up." He swung down, only to receive an all too familiar result as the Naruto in front of him dissipated into a cloud of smoke. However this time he followed through with the motion, swinging around and catching the Naruto behind him with the edge of the battle fan. He clipped the blonde, sending him flying backwards as he smirked. "Using the same attack on me twice? How unoriginal." He only saw the Naruto in the air smirk for a moment before it too disappeared into smoke.

"Rasengan." Tobi looked up in time to see Naruto right above him, rotating sphere of chakra in his hands. He quirked an eyebrow up quizzically as the blonde simply passed straight through him, crashing into the waters beneath him. A few moments later and a wet and soaking Naruto pulled himself up out of the sea, a look of irritation adorning his features. _'I really have to do something about his intangibility.' _He let his mind simmer on that as he produced a few shadow clones, letting them charge forward to keep Tobi occupied.

To his surprise though the man let them get close enough only to open up a dark portal in front of him. Most of the cloned blondes were too surprised to react and were quickly diced apart by the shuriken that were fired out at incredible velocities. One however managed to dodge in time and in a strange twist of fate he was sent stumbling through the portal by his own momentum. It promptly closed behind him leaving a slightly dumbfounded Naruto and an amused Tobi. The latter quickly pointed his battle fan at Naruto and smirked while the former growled as he charged at the man.

* * *

The clone blinked in surprise when he realised he was no longer standing atop the seas near Ame, instead he was standing on a strange floating platform of pure white. He looked around, seeing a multitude of other, similar platforms that simply floated in a large void of absolute black. It just seemed to stretch on forever as the light that illuminated the area the clone was in weakened the further he looked. Unsure of what to do with himself now the clone sat down on the strange, cuboid platform.

He wondered if he should dissipate, at least inform the boss of this strange place but he wasn't sure what would happen. He didn't seem to be even in the same dimension as the original so he couldn't be sure that the information receiving would work. He decided to explore instead, to see if he could find anything of use before giving the boss useless information. He placed a Fujin no Iki seal on the ground, not wanting to get lost or possibly missing a chance at going back. He suddenly had a thought and tried to lock onto any seals he could sense, it was remarkably weaker than what he was used to but he could just about sense the original's seal.

He looked down at the marking he had placed on the floor and shrugged before hopping off onto another platform. However as soon as he did so he caught a flash of movement, swivelling in surprise he saw Tobi back down on the platform he just left. Moving on instinct he jumped at the man, rearing his fist back while the formerly masked man didn't even seem to notice his presence. He smashed his fist down on the man's face. He was actually surprised that he had connected, but not as much as Tobi was.

The man turned to stare in the clone's direction in shock, but he didn't seem to be looking at him, more through him. The clone thought nothing of it and began to attack him again, this time continuing to connect devastating blow after blow. Tobi was trying to defend but it was almost like he couldn't see the clone which was confusing as the replica blonde could definitely see his opponent. After a certain amount of blows Tobi just grimaced in annoyance and suddenly vanished without a trace.

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure what to make of what he was seeing; one moment he was attacking Tobi while the man let his blows faze through his body. The next he suddenly recoiled as if struck by a powerful punch; Naruto hadn't hit him and even if he did the man was still intangible. Then it happened again, and again; Tobi was slowly forced back as he seemingly fought an invisible opponent who neither of them could see. The strange thing was that the mystery attacker was actually managing to land his blows, not fazing through Tobi.

The blonde saw him grimace as he allowed his body to become solid again; of course Naruto immediately took advantage of this and pressed his attack. To his surprise Tobi actually defended this time, using his battle fan to block Naruto's hidden claws while at the same time he attempted to counter attack. Naruto didn't understand why he suddenly had the advantage but he wasn't complaining. He used his immense speed to overwhelm Tobi, forcing him to bring his fan around in sweeping arcs just to defend against him.

Finally he activated his swift release, forcing chakra into his muscles and out of his tenketsu as time slowed around him. He rushed forward, noting that Tobi's single sharingan eye swivelled to follow him while his body was unable to match his reflexes. Naruto got in about ten very powerful blows all across Tobi's body before the man finally activated his ability and Naruto simply passed right through him.

Not one to waste chakra he disengaged his swift release as he suddenly watched Tobi begin to defend against phantom attacks again. This time Naruto observed, knowing that he couldn't hurt Tobi anyway, trying to figure out just what was going on. He noticed Tobi flip backwards, landing some distance away before he began to swirl, the air creating a vortex around his eye. Naruto realised what he was doing and quickly threw a kunai in his direction but it was too late, with an irritating wink Tobi vanished.

* * *

Tobi appeared in his dimension, shaking his head as he wondered about what went on in that fight. He opened his eyes in surprise when he saw a streak of blonde suddenly appear in front of him, forcing him to lift his battle fan in defence. He skidded back a few feet when the violent attack struck home and looked up to see a grinning Naruto stare him down. Tobi could only widen his eyes in surprise, wondering how the blonde could have possibly reached him here.

"How did you get here?" The blonde clone just shrugged before it went on the offensive, it only had limited chakra so it tried to keep its moves as least taxing as possible. However that proved to be a mistake as Tobi noticed the blonde seemed to be holding back. He capitalised on this, brutally and relentlessly bringing blow after blow from his battle fan down on the swift Uzumaki. The clone couldn't sustain this kind of assault for much longer and in a last ditch attempt suddenly ducked under one of Tobi's slightly sloppier swings.

He dived forward and Tobi, expecting another punch, reacted accordingly, pulling his body out of the way. However he didn't expect the clone to suddenly latch onto his cloak, pulling itself in before wrapping the man up in its arms.

"Boom." Tobi's eye could only widen in surprise as the clone wrapped around his body suddenly exploded right in his face.

* * *

Naruto reeled at the sudden influx of information as his clone dispelled itself, rather violently. He felt himself blow apart painfully for a moment before it faded as a memory. He took in everything the clone had learned and suddenly all those phantom blows Tobi seemed to take made sense. _'Interesting, he displaces his body into some kind of other dimension but keeps his form here, switching between them at will. My clone could interact with him while he displaced to the other dimension while I could deal with him out here.'_

He smirked at the stroke of luck; especially considering his clone placed a seal in the other dimension, now wherever Tobi ran to Naruto could always find him. Then again he didn't really want to risk teleporting to another dimension that seemed to have been created out of nothing by somebody else. The risk of getting stuck there worried him greatly, dying of dehydration did not sound particularly nice.

He wondered what had happened to Tobi, the point blank explosion should have been enough to deal with most people but he had already taken a rasengan and hardly felt it. For now he had to assume the man was still out there somewhere; however his suspicions were quickly proved correct as the air warped and Tobi almost stumbled into existence before him. Naruto observed him calmly, wondering why he would come back instead of flee and recuperate.

"Nice trick Namikaze, didn't expect it to be a clone. Lucky I teleported it away before it could do much damage." Naruto grimaced; he had hoped his clone would at least injure the man if nothing else; nothing he did seemed to work otherwise. "But now I've taken care of that little pest how about we get back to this?" Naruto just nodded before he disappeared in a flash of speed; Tobi was nonplussed, now that there were no clones in the other dimension he could use his intangibility again. That was why he was surprised when he switched, only to receive a swift kick in his side, flinging him backwards as Naruto smirked, his hand in a signature seal.

"What, you think I would find that place and just leave it without a way to get back? There are over fifty clones there now, good luck trying to get rid of them all." Tobi scowled as he stood back up, deactivating his intangibility for fear of the clones that he wouldn't be able to see.

"Well played kid but I don't need that ability to beat you." Naruto just shrugged, finally happy to be the unconcerned one in this fight. He rushed in, slipping under Tobi's guard quickly as he delivered a swift kick upwards. Tobi blocked but the force behind the kick lifted him off the water slightly; that was all the opening Naruto needed before he summoned two clones. They launched him into the air where he relentlessly attacked Tobi who could do nothing but attempt to block with his gunbai.

The two landed a few feet away from one another, both still seemingly unconcerned by the energy they had been expelling. Naruto couldn't believe how this man had been fighting yet he seemed no more tired than Naruto did. Naruto knew he was going to need something more if he was going to put Tobi down for good. He paused, taking advantage of the momentary lull in the fight as he reached deep within himself, drawing on the chakra inside him.

"_Alright Kurama, time for a test run." _He felt the great fox crack open an eye deep inside his mindscape before a vicious grin overtook her features.

"_**About time Kit, it's been a long seventeen years." **_Naruto smiled on the outside as bubbling red chakra leaked out of his pours, quickly blanketing him in a cloak of poisonous chakra. He felt the touches of his more malicious side try and break through but with him and Kurama working together it was repressed and he was allowed to think clearly, Tobi watched as three tails of pure chakra manifested themselves behind Naruto.

Watch was all he could do as Naruto was there one minute, right next to him the next; already bringing his clawed hand around in a deadly sweep. He brought up his battle fan only to watch in amazement as it was neatly split into five separate pieces by Naruto's burning hand. He dived backwards, avoiding one of his tails before it could skewer him through the stomach. Naruto didn't seem to be done though, even as he watched the chakra around Naruto's body seemed to be reabsorbed into the blonde.

Tobi hoped that Naruto was suppressing the beast within him but was sadly disappointed as Naruto's skin began to flake off like Konan's shikigami technique. Soon all that was left was a miniature Kyuubi made of pure swirling red chakra. Naruto's face was practically gone; his eyes were just two white holes while his mouth had degenerated into a jagged split. The Kyuubified Naruto, still fully in control of his mind, grinned maniacally; feeling the rush of power through what he guessed he could call his body was amazing.

He leapt forward, taking Tobi by surprise as his body seemed to stretch in order to reach him faster. He found himself dodging claws and tails that wanted nothing more than to rip his limbs from his body. However he did manage to surprise Naruto when he caught one of the savage blows with his right arm, seemingly not even feeling the colossal impact despite skidding back more than a few feet. Using that moment of hesitation he smirked and punched Naruto right in the face.

However with the Kyuubi's influence, guiding him on how to use his new body he quickly absorbed the blow, his head retracting into his body. It re-emerged along with a clawed hand out of his chest, taking Tobi by surprise again before he was swatted backwards. Naruto grinned, loving how easy this all felt, he wanted more of this and like that two more tails quickly grew out of his body. Bones manifested themselves of his body as a spine and then a skull took shape, increasing his power greatly.

Naruto roared out in delight and Kurama could only do the same, with each tail he felt her own power increase, her own partial freedom grow closer. Wasting no time she directed even more of her chakra into Naruto's body as he suddenly expanded, falling down onto all fours. Tobi watching in mild intrigue as the bones that had surrounded Naruto like armour sunk into his body, glowing as the entire cloak took on the form of Kurama. He knew he had to stop this soon before he was facing the nine-tails itself but he could think how.

Like the bones had before muscles suddenly weaved themselves into existence as the eighth tail took form. Malevolent chakra now flooded the air like a mist, as the waters around them were sent into frenzy as if caught by a storm of titanic proportions. Tobi was now looking at the Kyuubi itself, minus the fur, as two red slitted eyes stared down at him while its now toothy mouth grinned in sadistic pleasure. At this point Naruto finally felt his own consciousness overshadowed by one much older and powerful than him.

* * *

He woke up with the usual feeling in his mindscape, only it had changed; it looked like he was staring down at a miniature version of the battlefield he had just been standing on. There was a tiny Tobi looking up at a nearly complete Kurama, the only thing stopping her from going all out was the brightly glowing seal around her neck like a choker. Naruto smiled as he looked down at her and the half-formed Biju grinned right back.

"How's freedom feel?" Kurama stretched out like a cat might as the eight tails swished around behind her.

"**Better than you could imagine, but it could be better." **Naruto just nodded, knowing the ancient fox was talking about the seal around her neck. He pulled up his shirt, looking down at the complex and powerful seal that adorned his chest before twisting at the spiral in the middle. Instantly seals shot out from the centre, extending up his arm in a black line of Kanji and patterns. He stared at his palm with a smile, glad that it had worked before walking over to Kyuubi.

All he had to do was alter the seal around her neck and she would be able to channel her full power through him and as long as their goals were aligned then it wouldn't harm him. He rested one hand on her back, stroking it lightly before he touched the seal around her neck with a single outstretched finger. Before he could do anything though he was suddenly tackled to the side, forcing him to tuck into a roll as he glanced left and right to find his attacker.

His eyes opened wide as he looked at the man in front of him, currently between him and the Kyuubi as he stared down at him. Long spiky blonde hair, flowing white coat with orange flames, Konoha headband across his forehead. Naruto just blinked in surprise as he looked up at the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

"Dad?"


	65. Chapter 65

"Naruto" The younger blonde blinked as the former Hokage extended his hand; he took it uncertainly as he was hoisted to his feet. Time around them seemed to just stop as Naruto gazed into his father's piercing blue eyes, so like his. "Well, it seems the failsafe I worked into the seal worked, activating if you ever reached the eight tail state. I had hoped not to see that day come." The older blonde looked around, staring at the semi-formed Kyuubi who stared back with narrowed eyes.

"I had hoped never to see you again Kyuubi." The old fox huffed in annoyance, quite perplexed by this whole situation.

"**Cheater." **The Yondaime looked at the fox in intrigue, noting the collar around her neck and the strangeness of the situation and landscape. Naruto was still frozen in shock as the older Namikaze walked across the miniaturized battlefield, peering down at the tiny Tobi who was frozen in time from the way the mindscape worked.

"Ahh Obito, how far you have fallen." He sighed to himself wearily as he stood back up before turning to face his son with a warm smile. "Hello Naruto, I'm glad I was able to see you as the man you grew up to be, maybe I should call it even because of that." Naruto was still in shock as he stared at the man, acting like it hadn't been seventeen years since his own death.

"D-dad?" The man nodded warmly, allowing a kind smile to spread across his features as a tear rolled down Naruto's cheek.

"I'm at least glad you were told, I more than expected the Third to keep it from you. He was the type to keep these things suppressed as much as possible." Naruto was still shocked but he managed to find his voice.

"H-He did, I found out by accident, the Tsuchikage saw me and forced Tsunade to tell him and me." Minato looked away, thinking about that for a moment before he looked back with the smallest of frowns.

"I see, well I suppose he had his reasons, although I never would have wanted you to find out that way." Naruto just nodded dumbly, what do you say to your father who you haven't seen your entire life, only for him to come back from the dead?

"You bastard!" Minato opened his eyes wider as he found his son's fist firmly planted into his stomach. "That's for sealing the fucking nine-tails into your own son!" He quickly glanced over to where the large fox had narrowed her eyes "No offence" Kurama just shrugged as she chuckled at seeing the man who sealed her get punched by her jailor. Naruto quickly turned his gaze back to the man in front of him as he groaned out in confusion and anger.

"I don't even know if I'm supposed to be happy or sad, or angry as hell! That village hated me, the only reason I'm still even here today was because I ran away, then I could finally find precious people like Tayuya-chan, Gaara, and Fuu-imouto!" Minato looked away from his son, unable to meet him in the eye for a moment before he looked back around with a small smile.

"Naruto, how old are you now?" Naruto glared back up at the man, wiping away the few tears that managed to stain his cheeks.

"Seventeen, tomorrow." Minato's smile grew a little as he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, glad when his son didn't flinch from the contact.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I know it must have been hard and I'm sad the village was like that. I had hoped you would grow up a hero; that was the life I wanted for you no matter what. If you had to find somewhere else to accomplish that then I guess I can only be happy. I have no right to act like a father now and you have no reason to accept my apologies but know that I'm proud for what you have accomplished." Naruto sighed, he felt deflated all of a sudden, empty even, all the anger had drained out of him.

"Naruto, I sealed half of the nine-tails chakra inside of you because I believed you could control it, harness it." He looked across at the mindscape, at the Kyuubi wearing her collar as she stared down at the miniature Tobi. "I don't know how but you seem to have done that." He smiled as he looked across at Naruto, a fatherly smile that he honestly felt no right to give. "I knew you would though because you're my son." He shifted his other hand to rest on his son's other shoulder, gazing into his eyes softly.

"I couldn't have done it alone. I've had Kurama with me my whole life, without her I wouldn't be the person I am today." Minato raised a single eyebrow as he looked at his son with humour.

"Kurama?" Naruto nodded, wiping the last of the tears from his eye.

"Kyuubi, without her I would be dead." Minato seemed a little surprise as he looked across at the fox; she simply shrugged her shoulders, waiting for the two to finish their moment.

"You helped my son?" The Kyuubi nodded slowly, she didn't really understand the question, of course she helped her container; if he died then she would have too. At least it started that way; she couldn't deny the infectious little knucklehead had gotten her seeing things rather differently.

"**He's hard to say no to." **Minato nodded curtly, not believing he was actually having a conversation with the creature he had sealed away in his son to protect the village.

"I know." Naruto looked up at him in surprise while Minato smiled down at him softly. "I watched from inside you, it's how I can knowingly say that I couldn't be more proud of you, your mother would be too." He smirked in amusement "You re-created the Rasengan and Hiraishin without anybody teaching you, you really are my son you know." Naruto finally managed a smile as he looked up at his father.

"I was supposed to come here if the seal was breaking but that doesn't seem to be a problem anymore." He looked down at his hand which was slowly fading away. "My time is nearly up and my chakra is almost gone." He reached forward and pulled his son into a tight embrace "I'll always be proud of you Naruto, remember that." With that his entire body slowly began to fade away, soon enough he was gone and Naruto was left standing alone, until Kyuubi coughed.

"**Are you okay?" **Naruto remained quiet for a moment before he looked up with a smirk.

"Yeah, come on, we need to kick that guy's ass."

* * *

Tobi had seen the Kyuubi pause for a second like it was thinking, only for it to suddenly grin menacingly. Its whole body shivered as his lowered its body towards the ground. He watched in fear and fascination as fur began to sprout over its body; it didn't take long and shortly he was standing in front of the fully regenerated Kyuubi no Yoko in all her glory. She finally got to her feet properly as she closed her eyes in bliss, taking a deep breath of sea air before opening her red slitted eyes and staring right at Tobi.

"**You, you smell of Uchiha and you wield the Sharingan." **She chuckled darkly as she brought her snout down so close it was only inches away from Tobi's body, he could feel each breath that washed over his form. **"For that you have to die." **Tobi blinked, for the first time in a very long time he felt fear; staring into the face of the most powerful being on the planet would do that to you. His eyes widened in surprise as he jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the tail that would have swatted him all the way to water country.

Unfortunately for him there were eight others and each began its individual assault in perfect coordination with the others. Kyuubi didn't even have to move as she let her tails keep the Uchiha busy; she actually yawned at one point. She had at least hoped for a challenge like from the last Uchiha she faced in the flesh but this one was nowhere near Madara's level. She stared at him again only noticing in time as his single sharingan eye began to spin hypnotically.

Tobi grinned but quickly put all his concentration into subduing the massive chakra construct. His sharingan eye blazed wildly as he tried to take over the great beasts mind, watching as her red slitted eyes flashed between that and a faux-sharingan. He was surprised then when the great fox shook her head madly, growling in irritation as the control fell away, revealing a very angry Kyuubi.

"**You! You were the one that controlled me that night." **She growled lowly as she bared her teeth in a mix between a snarl and a grin. **"I had hoped you were still alive." **Tobi widened his eyes in shock as he tried to warp away, only to be struck hard as the Kyuubi smashed him down into the water with her tail. She didn't stop there though; she reached her hand under the waters and grabbed the slippery Uchiha, bringing him back up so he could look directly into her enraged eyes.

"Wood Release: Nativi–ugghh" Kyuubi grinned sadistically as she increased the pressure of her hand, closing it around Tobi in a fist as she squeezed. The Uchiha wasn't able to do anything except squirm as she held him there, slowly squeezing the life out of him. He grimaced, thinking of all the things he had yet to do, he couldn't die here yet. Kyuubi grinned one last time before she firmly clenched her fist shut; she would have preferred a more drawn out death for the man that had the audacity to control her but being here in this form was taxing on both her and Naruto.

She snorted in disgust at how easily the Uchiha was beaten before allowing his body to fall limply into the water below them. She sighed, breathing in the sweet air again before smiling sadly, a strange sight on such a massive fox. Her body glowed for a moment as it became a swirling vortex of chakra that compressed down into a vaguely humanoid shape. As it became more defined blonde hair appeared before the rest of Naruto materialised, panting atop the water.

"Man, we gotta work on that, it's way too tiring." He felt a nod of approval from Kyuubi and he chuckled to himself, she would do anything to have more moments of freedom like that. He stood up, his face becoming a mask of seriousness as he stared at the broken body of Tobi floating in the water in front of him. Idly he noticed that it had begun to rain again sometime between him letting Kyuubi take over and her finishing off Tobi.

He walked across the water, really starting to feel the fatigue of having that much chakra forced through his body as a conduit. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the crumpled Uchiha, nudging him with a foot. _'Why did dad call him Obito?' _He ignored it and pushed the man onto his back, only to jump back in surprise as he leapt to his feet, swinging for Naruto. The blonde dodged and stared at the man incredulously, wondering what it took to kill this guy. He noticed that both of his eyes were now closed, the right one bleeding slightly.

"I can't die yet! I will realise Madara-sama's plans! The world must know peace! I will-" he was cut off as he brought his hands up to his throat, feeling the three pronged kunai lodged there. He would have blinked in surprise if either of his eyes were still working but all he could do was splutter and choke on his own blood before falling back into the water, dead for good this time. Naruto stared down at his body as the man's blood slowly spilled out into the sea, staining it red around his body.

"Shut up."

* * *

Konan gasped in surprise when she saw a tired and sopping wet Naruto stumble into the tower, she left Nagato's side for a moment to rush over and help him walk the rest of the way. She carefully laid him down on another bed as Nagato looked up from his own to see the blonde weakly smile at the blue-haired woman.

"I got him Konan-chan." After that he had difficulty keeping his eyes open and allowed sleep to finally overcome his body, letting it wash him away into sweet unconsciousness. Konan smiled as she stared down at the sleeping boy, wiping the locks of hair from his eyes before pulling a blanket over his body. She stood up with some difficulty, clutching her side in pain as she carefully walked over to Nagato and sat herself down on the side of his bed.

He had recovered well in the last three days, without the chakra receivers his body had began to fill out again to more healthy standards. Tomorrow Konan had been hoping to try and get him to take his first steps in over ten years. He had talked more as well, mostly about Naruto of course but Konan didn't mind, the cold empty person he had become was slowly beginning to recede. Every day she caught more glimpses of the man he had once been, the man that Yahiko had called his friend.

"He really did it?" Konan just nodded, Naruto being alive was all the proof she needed that the boy had done what he said he did, what she could not. Nagato smiled warmly as he rested his head back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Incredible, he truly is powerful. I only wish we had met on better terms." Konan smiled as well.

"It doesn't matter, he saved you from yourself, gave you a second chance..." She looked down to the now bandaged wound on her stomach "...gave us all a second chance." Nagato nodded with a smile, something that had been happening more nd more ever since Naruto had come into their lives.

"So the Akatsuki is finished. Maybe it's for the best, it was nothing like Yahiko wanted anyway." Konan nodded again as Nagao sighed, turning back to face Naruto as he propped himself up on his arms with a little difficulty. "I only wish I could do something about all the misery we caused." Konan's smile turned sad as she placed her hand on Nagato's shoulder. She was a little shocked when he tried to manoeuvre himself around into a sitting position, still propped up by his arms. "Konan, help me for a moment." She was uncertain but when she saw the determined look in Nagato's eyes that had been missing for too long she just nodded firmly.

She hefted the still rather frail man onto his feet, using herself as a brace even though it caused her to wince. Nagato was unsteady on his feet like a baby learning to walk for the first time but with a few small and careful steps they covered the distance to Naruto's bed. Nagato starred down at the other Uzumaki with a small smile, placing a hand across the blonde's chest.

"Thank you for everything cousin, you will succeed where I failed."

* * *

Both Gaara and Tayuya were sitting in his office, both anxious at the revelation that Naruto had disappeared. At first the redhead had thought it was some kind of joke or that he had flashed ahead to the training ground. However she had began to worry when he wasn't there, Fuu saying she hadn't seen him at all. That worry only increased when he remained absent or the entire day, not even coming home to sleep. She wondered where he had gone and what was keeping him and despite knowing just how powerful he was she feared the worst.

They had thought if best to not inform Fuu in case it was nothing, simply saying Naruto was away on a mission. Yet here they were, a whole day later and there was no sign of the unpredictable blonde leading them both to the situation they were in. Tayuya nervously paced the floor of the office while Gaara went through the small stack of paperwork on his desk, masking his own worry behind professionalism and calm.

"How can you be so fucking normal?! Naruto's gone and we have no idea where the hell he's fucking gone and you just sit there doing Kami-forsaken paperwork!" Gaara sighed as he paced down the mission report in his hand, looking up at Tayuya with weary but understanding eyes.

"Tayuya, as much as it pains me to say it I'm the Kazekage. The whole village doesn't grind to a halt because one shinobi goes missing, no matter how important. However Naruto is my best friend, that is why I trust in his abilities to get back to us safely." Tayuya glare at him but he kept his own gaze even and neutral until she huffed in irritation, flopping down onto the couch Gaara kept for visitors or when Matsuri came to talk with him while he worked.

They were waiting for another fifteen minutes in near silence, only the occasional sound of Gaara stamping a document could be heard echoing through the small room. So of course when a slightly sleepy Naruto suddenly appeared in the middle of the room neither of them really knew what to do.

"Naruto!" He was suddenly tackled across the room by a red blur, strangely reminiscent of the first time he had re-united with her in this office. He smiled sheepishly up at Tayuya's rather flustered face and he would have rubbed the back of his head but Tayuya's legs were doing an effective job or pinning his arms to his sides. She smiled back before punching him in the face, hard.

"You asshole, what the fuck's your problem flashing off like that?" Naruto groaned as he was unable to rub his cheek, Tayuya could really pack a punch when she wanted to and he was feeling that now.

"Sorry Tayuya, I'll explain everything I swear." Tayuya just nodded with a huff.

"You fucking better."

* * *

**Three months later**

* * *

Naruto happily jumped across the rooftops of Sunagakure, the biggest grin of his life on his face as he literally cart-wheeled through the air. He was more nervous than he had ever been in his life yet at the same time strangely exhilarated; he had reason to be after all. He flipped through the air, grabbing onto a banister as he span through an elderly couple's apartment, muttering a hurried apology before racing on.

He dashed through the streets, dodging and weaving between equally annoyed and surprised villagers and Shinobi alike. He ignored them all, to focus on his destination as he skidded around another corner. He flipped over a surprised blonde and puppeteer who watched the ecstatic Uzumaki curiously as he rushed off down the street at speeds hard to follow with the eye alone.

"I wonder what's got Naruto in such a rush." Temari just smirked knowingly as she pulled her brother along.

"You'll find out later." _'It's about time you moron.' _She followed him with her eyes until he was around the corner, returning to the message she was writing to a certain lazy pineapple.

Tayuya was running through some advanced kata's with Matsuri, just because the girl had made it to chuunin didn't mean the two didn't enjoy training together anymore. Fuu was also there but more as an observer, she also wore her chuunin vest with pride, even if she had modified it a bit to hug her more pronounced curves a bit more. Naruto had been so proud of her that day; she had never felt better in her life.

Tayuya was about to continue the training session when Naruto dropped down from the sky in the middle of them, creating a small crater on impact. He was another person who hadn't given up on training just because things had quietened down. In fact, with more time than ever he had thrown himself into missions and training like no tomorrow, his speed was unbelievable as well as unmatched.

"Hey Tayuya, how about a spar?" The redhead raised an eyebrow in amusement; Naruto hadn't asked her for a spar in ages, definitely not after defeating Tobi. That wasn't saying he would ever unleash the full power of the Kyuubi on her but still, he was damn powerful. Of course Tayuya just smirked, her own stubbornness getting in the way of rational thinking, again.

"Sure, you're on Shithead." Naruto just grinned excitedly, making Tayuya wonder what had him so happy. Capitalising on what she assumed was a moment of distraction she pulled out her flute, intent on showing Naruto that despite how powerful he had become she could still put him down with a single note. Of course she could only look down in annoyance when she realised hr flute was no longer in her hands. She growled as she turned around, seeing Naruto whistling innocently while twirling her flute in between his fingers.

She growled while he smirked before he suddenly saluted and disappeared; only leaving behind a brief after image of his smirking face. Tayuya narrowed her eyes as she glanced around looking for where the next attack would come from, not that she would even be able to see it if Naruto went full out. She didn't take kindly to being taken fun of in a spar which is why when she saw Naruto's grinning face disappear around a corner into the streets she immediately took chase. Fuu and Matsuri were just left in shock at the very sudden and fast turn of events.

Tayuya chased the grinning blonde relentlessly through the streets of Suna and if she had been in a less irritated state of mind she might have realised that Naruto wasn't using his full speed to escape her. She paid that no mind and chased after him anyway, her own smirk beginning to form as she found enjoyment in the chase. Naruto led her on a random and winding path through the village until he finally stopped on top of the Kazekage tower, the tallest building in the village.

When she finally caught up she was surprised to find him just sitting on the edge of the roof, lazily swinging his legs back and forth over the side, staring down at the simple flute in his hands. Tayuya landed next to him in a fighting stance with her Bo staff out and at the ready; however when she saw Naruto wasn't going to fight she frowned and sat down next to him. She watched him curiously for a bit as he played with the simple metal rod, spinning it in his hands as it caught the light of the sun that was just now beginning to set.

"You remember when I bought this for you?" Tayuya raised an eyebrow at his slightly subdued and quiet tone, far from the normal way the exuberant blonde spoke.

"Yeah, it was about nine years ago at that shop, why?" Naruto just smiled softly as he held up the flute in the light, admiring it. In all the years Tayuya had it she had never let it get damaged too much and if it was she would immediately fix it, bringing it back to as good as new.

"That was the first time I ever saw you cry." Tayuya huffed, not explicitly admitting that he was telling the truth.

"So what?" He turned to her and chuckled as he passed her the flute; she accepted it but maintained her curious and slightly wierded out look as she watched Naruto.

"I think that was the first real time you ever let me in, emotionally." Tayuya just nodded uncertainly, not really sure where Naruto was going with all this, he seemed so out of character today.

"What about it?" Naruto chuckled again as he placed an arm around the redhead's shoulders, pulling her in closer to him.

"Do you always have to be so hostile?" Tayuya smirked as she allowed herself to be pulled in, resting her head on his shoulder so that her long hair drifted down both of their backs.

"I do when you act fucking weird like this Shithead." He just nodded with a warm smile as he rested his head on top of hers, letting them both look out at the horizon in comfort to watch the sun set.

"You still gonna keep calling me that then?" Tayuya laughed a soft tinkling sound that only made Naruto's grin brighter.

"You gonna keep asking?" He just sighed happily as he continued to watch the sun set, setting the sky ablaze with various colours that made this time so special in Suna. He was sure there were other couples out there tonight, watching the same sunset with their loved ones except he didn't care because he got to be with the girl that _he _loved.

"No, I think I know better now." Tayuya just nodded her approval happily before snuggling into Naruto's shoulder, stealing his boundless warmth away.

"So what did you really get me all the way out here for Shithead? As much as I enjoy being with you I'm not exactly the mushy type who watches sunsets for fun." Naruto just grinned as he leaned back, pulling Tayuya with him until she was sat on his lap, surprising the redhead.

"I know, don't worry, it's important." Tayuya looked at him with a smirk.

"Oh, so there's a thing now?" Naruto just nodded with a grin, throwing the redhead off a little as she suddenly became very curious.

"Alright, I'll bite, what is it?" Naruto's grin settled down for a moment as he instead took to just looking at Tayuya's lovingly. His head was angled in such a way that the setting sun framed his hair, almost setting it of fire in the evening light.

"Marry me." Tayuya just blinked in surprise for a moment as she stared at her boyfriend incredulously.

"What?" Naruto just leaned in a little closer, their faces now only a few inches apart.

"Marry me." Tayuya just gulped as she processed what he was saying.

"B-but, there are things, and then you know, but we have to, and then there's-" Naruto quickly cut off her ramblings with a kiss, sealing them together at the lips as Tayuya just let herself go, melting into the contact s she closed her eyes. When the two finally parted Tayuya was still leaning towards him with her eyes closed, a smile now on her face.

"Okay." It was Naruto's turn to pause in surprise as he looked at Tayuya in wonder; it only lasted for a moment before an enormous grin split his face as he dived on Tayuya, kissing her again and again to show her his gratitude. Tayuya was more than happy to accept them as she giggled every time a kiss would just miss her lips. That reaffirmed it in her mind, she would marry Naruto, no, she _wanted_ to marry Naruto; he was the first person she had let into her heart and she wanted him to be the last to ever leave it. Suddenly she pulled away leaving a surprised and pouting Naruto.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to get me a ring or something?" She said it while trying to maintain a straight face but she couldn't help the slight grin that spread across her face.

"Oh right!" Tayuya might have chuckled at the scene if she wasn't so captivated; Naruto quickly began to fumble around in his pockets before finally withdrawing a small, simple velvet box. He offered it over to Tayuya who took it hesitantly, almost reverently before opening it. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips as she stared down with wonder at the ring carefully laid inside the box.

It was patterned in a way that made it look like three different bands of brilliant white gold that wove hypnotically around one another in a perfect circle. On the top, in between three of the weaves were three simple, but beautifully cut diamonds that sparkled dazzlingly in the setting sunlight. Tayuya just gawked at the beautiful ring, too startled to say anything.

"Is it okay? Do you like it?" She managed to look up long enough to see Naruto staring across at her nervously, worried that she might not like it. The clerk said that if he even showed that ring to a woman she would marry him but Naruto had been sceptical how a simple piece of metal could do that. Tayuya simple gawked some more as Naruto's unease increased the longer the silence went on.

"How did you afford this?" Naruto shrugged, still a little cautious in fear of Tayuya not liking the ring.

"I set aside all the pay I've been getting in the last three months." Tayuya blinked in surprise; that was over forty A-rank missions and more than a few S-ranked ones as well. It was no wonder the ring was of such high quality, its price must have been extortionate. "I just went into the shop and asked what I could get for it; the man just seemed really surprised and told me there was only one ring I could buy for that amount, sorry if it isn't enough."

Tayuya was ignoring the blonde at this point as she slipped the ring onto her finger with care. It fit her perfectly and she wondered how Naruto had managed to get the size right, not that she really cared. She looked up at him, seeing that he was still rambling nervously, before tackling him to the floor, this time the one to plant kisses all over him. When she finally got up she was grinning like crazy, almost at Naruto levels which was rather scary, although Naruto didn't mind in the slightest.

"So you like it?" Tayuya just laughed out loud before settling for a soft and gentle smile.

"Yeah I like it." Naruto beamed happily as he picked up Tayuya in his arms, surprising the redheaded kunoichi again.

"Great, let's go tell Gaara!" Tayuya just nodded with a devious smile, she couldn't wait for Matsuri to see her ring; the girl was going to be so jealous!

* * *

**A/N: And that's all folks, unless I get a resounding plea for an epilogue that's the last chapter of 'Red and Yellow Makes'. I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it (even though at times it was more than a chore) **

**On to business: You guys need to help me decide what I'll write next, there are way too many ideas swimming around in my head so I need some fan help to narrow down my choices of the next pairing. I've narrowed it down to... Fuu, FemHaku, Yugito or an Anko story where Naruto would be in her age group :) Possibly Harem if I feel so inclined (small mind you) but each would be a unique story that I already have my mind working on.**

**So drop me a message or a review, even if you want to offer your own ideas for what I should write (not story ideas but for pairings) and if you're persuasive enough, hell... I might just go for it (not Sakura or Hinata, just no).**

**-Digi out-**

**P.S: Check out KyuubiGoku's stories like 'Contract of the Shinigami', 'The Fox loves the Cat' or 'The Ice Fox of Konoha', dude's an amazing writer, also decent on the update speeds.**

**P.P.S: Nothing, I just always wanted a P.P.S :)**


	66. Epilogue

Anko skipped through the streets of Konoha with what some people might call a slightly manic grin. She made sure to direct this look on anybody and everybody who crossed her path; she was definitely in a good mood today. She didn't really know why, it might have been the recent slew of interesting A-ranked missions she had been getting or perhaps it was because Hana had asked her to be her maid of honour. She didn't really care, all she knew was that she was happy, those occurrences were too rare in her book to be wasted pondering.

Her grin diminished slightly as she looked up at the Hokage monument, noticing a lone figure standing atop the head of the Yondaime Hokage. She couldn't make out any features except the long billowing coat they wore because the sun was behind them, making the jounin cover her eyes with a hand. For a moment she could have sworn the man was smirking in her direction but before she could get any closer he vanished, just like that. In that brief instance she swore she could have seen a mop of sun-kissed blonde hair.

She shook her head, wondering if she had been out in the sun for too long before remembering what she was doing. Her grin returning she quickly took off in the direction of the Inuzuka compound; it wasn't every day she got to be a bride's maid to her best friend.

* * *

Mei sighed as she leafed through another stack of documents idly, not really focused on what she was reading. It was mostly senseless drivel about this mission or that; she didn't care too much as long as they were completed successfully without many problems. She groaned as she leaned back in the chair; she really needed a day off or something. The last time she had been able to really kick back and just enjoy herself was at Naruto's wedding, she smiled as she remembered the day fondly.

She peered out over the village, her village, watching the sun reflect off the moisture covering the white-washed buildings. She peered a little closer as she noticed a single man standing tall, high up on one of the buildings, just looking out over the village. She couldn't make out any details but he definitely caught her eye with his clothing blowing out in the wind like that. As quickly as she had noticed him a cloud passed over the sun, briefly darkening the village for just a moment.

When it passed he was gone, as if he had never been there in the first place. Mei just blinked as she leaned back even further into her chair, she _really _needed a break.

* * *

Yugito slid underneath another of Bee's attacks, bringing her body down low to the ground before springing back up to wrap around the larger man's neck. She was swiftly backhanded away before doing any actual damage but before he could fully recover she was on him again, a flurry of lightning fast punches and kicks. Bee dodged or parried all of it with the face of one of his swords before grabbing one of Yugito's overextended arms, quickly throwing her across the plateau to impact painfully with a boulder.

"You gotta be faster than that little miss two or the mighty Killer Bee will always beat you, yeah!" The blonde just stood up with a smirk on her face before both jinchuuriki raised an eyebrow, turning their heads to where they felt a familiar chakra signature. Both smirked lightly as they gazed up at the mountain they were training under, just catching a glimpse of red and yellow before it vanished, taking the familiar presence with it.

"So it's that time of the year again huh?" Bee just nodded with a small smile, his arms over his chest as he looked up from behind his shades.

"It would seem it's that time for lil' nine-" he was cut off before he could rap anymore as Yugito promptly kicked him across the training ground.

"Gotta keep your guard up Bee-sensei."

* * *

A lone figure suddenly materialised atop a rooftop deep in Earth Country, standing easily with their arms crossed over their chest. Their eyes narrowed briefly before softening as they took into the night above them, the stars shining in the cloudless sky. They sighed to themselves as they took in Iwagakure, harnessing its own rugged beauty with its rough-hewn buildings. It wasn't their favourite village of all time but ever since Oonoki had passed on the title of Tsuchikage it had become more tolerable, dropping its inherent hatred for Konoha and its allies, slightly.

Two chuunin were out on the late shift patrolled through the streets, boredom evident on their faces. It was the most pointless job in the elemental nations; the walls of Iwagakure were unbreachable, almost. In the history of the continent only one man had ever breached the city, and he was dead. One of them suddenly stopped, the cigarette in his mouth dropping to the ground as his mouth opened in surprise, pointing up at a rooftop.

"H-hey isn't that...?" His friend looked around, noticing his friend trail off with an apathetic indifference; he just wanted the night to end. He didn't see anything up on the roof so just quickly slapped his partner around the back of his head before walking on down the street.

"Shut up you moron, who the hell's gonna be out here at this time of night? You're probably just tired." The other chuunin just blinked as he scrutinised the spot again, he was sure he had seen somebody, and not just anybody. He shook his head; it must have just been exhaustion and boredom, there was no way it could be him anyway, no way.

* * *

Kakashi jumped through the trees, only stopping when he finally came to the edge of the training ground. He was about to jump down until he spotted somebody else standing in his usual spot; instantly he recognised the long red coat and bright, spiky blonde hair. He paused for a moment before turning around, he wouldn't want to interrupt somebody paying their respects, he could come back later. He chuckled, thinking it might be worth it to see the shock on people's faces when he actually showed up on time for once.

Naruto just stared down at the simple black polished stone in front of him, the smallest of smiles on his face. He knelt down, placing the handful of flowers that he had collected from all across the Elemental Nations down on the memorial, focusing on three names in particular. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply for a moment before he felt a hand lightly rest on his shoulders. He stood back, up, turning around to see his wife looking sadly down at the memorial.

"Come on Naruto, time to come home." The blonde just nodded with a sad smile as Tayuya wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug. They both disappeared, vanishing in an instant, the flowers resting on the polished black marble being the only indicator they were even there.

* * *

Naruto and Tayuya reappeared inside their home, still wrapped up in each others' arms until they heard a cough behind them. Naruto turned his head with a smirk as he saw Fuu stating at the two of them, her arms under her chest, crossed over her Jounin jacket.

"Good to see you back Oniisan, you know they were worried about you." As if on cue Naruto spotted a blur of blonde suddenly run into the room, bowling him back as the yellow bullet crashed into him.

"Tou-san!" Naruto just chuckled as he stood back up, picking up his daughter as he did so.

"Hey Konan-chan, you know you're getting a little old to be jumping into me like that." The four year old just giggled as she wrapped her arms around her father's neck, shaking her head furiously.

"Nuh uh, Tou-san will always be there to pick me up!" Naruto just chuckled but nodded all the same, who was he to say no to his little girl? He was right though, she was starting to get a little big, only four years old and already she was becoming awkward to hold the way he used to. Her long, straight blonde hair fell in sheets around her rounded face, always trying to emulate her mother. The three whisker marks on either cheek however marked her as her father's little girl.

"Pff, you know you're going to have to get her out of that fucking habit sooner or later." Naruto just turned around to the doorway with an amused expression, his eyebrow raised at his son. He didn't have to say anything though as Tayuya was quickly behind the eight year old, slapping around the back of the head.

"Arashi Uzumaki, you swear one more fucking time and I'll get Fuu to fly you up so high you won't be able to see the clouds." The boy turned pale before he coughed nervously, grumbling under his breath about hypocritical mothers. Naruto just smirked at the scene; it was the same thing almost every day. He was never happier than the day Arashi had been born, inheriting his father's spiky hair and his mother's colour. However like his sister the three whisker marks on either cheek clearly display his heritage to the world.

"Hey Tou-San, you know when Nagato-ojisan is next coming over? He promised me he'd teach me some awesome technique." Naruto chuckled, he swore if Konan didn't keep his cousin on a tight leash he would spoil Arashi rotten, something to do with being a true Uzumaki which always made Naruto grumble.

"No idea, take it up with your aunt." Arashi smirked, nodding before he went back outside, no doubt to train. He had been trying to replicate the rasengan for a few days now and of course Naruto was no help, not wanting to ruin the feeling of working out a jutsu all on his own. He had caught Fuu trying to give him pointers once but he quickly sent her packing to Yukimaru for a while. If it involved training or jutsu Arashi was all over it, yet at the same time he seemed to have taken up his mother's love of music with a righteous passion, which was unfortunate when he would spent all night practising.

He carefully set Konan down, much to her displeasure if her pouting features were anything to go on. It was lucky that he had slowly grown immune to what he had lovingly dubbed the 'puppy dog eyes jutsu' thanks to Tayuya abusing it during her first pregnancy. Naruto suddenly shivered as he remembered back to those times. Sure Tayuya was possibly happier than he had ever seen her but she had 'moments' and that was all Naruto was willing to remember.

"Hey Tou-san, why are you always gone this time every year?" Naruto looked down at his daughter in mild surprise, for one so young she was certainly turning out to be shrewd. He wondered briefly if she got that from her grandfather but dismissed it as he knelt down.

"I was just visiting some very special people." Konan smiled brightly, a sight that would prove irresistible to even the most hardened of Shinobi.

"Can I visit them too?" Naruto smiled right back as he ruffled the top of her hair gently.

"Sure thing, but not right now, when you're older." Konan just grinned and nodded while Naruto chuckled, that was definitely one difference between his kids, Arashi would fight him tooth and nail over ever little point, as stubborn as his mother, while Konan would accept everything Naruto said, not that he lied to her or anything. He made sure that he never lied to his children about anything, he wouldn't have them growing up the way he did. Unless of course it was an awkward question, then he would pass it off to Tayuya before vanishing for a few days with Gaara.

He smiled as he thought of his friend; there was one who had taken to married life well, or at least Matsuri had made him take to it well. Arashi and Kin were best friends and outside of the Academy the pair were inseparable. If it kept up this way he was going to have to recommend they be placed on the same genin team. He was sure Gaara would agree, after all besides Matsuri he always took Naruto's opinions into consideration; then again he figured that was how it was supposed to be between jounin commanders and their Kage.

He watched as Konan ran off out the back door, she enjoyed watching Arashi train, knowing that it would be her as well one day. Naruto just stood back up, watching her run off with a smile as Fuu walked over, leaning back against the edge of a table.

"So how was Iwa? Any trouble from Kurotsuchi?" Naruto just smirked, finally tearing his gaze away from his daughter to look at his sister. She too had changed over the years, she was definitely taller, curvier too although Naruto didn't generally like to think about her that way. She had let her hair grow out a bit, still trying to make it spiky like his, mostly unsuccessfully. It was almost a rare sight now to not see her flying through the village, swerving in between buildings.

"Nah, I don't think anybody even saw me. And even if they did you know they wouldn't give me any trouble." Tayuya just smirked from behind him as she draped herself over his back.

"Yeah, benefits of having a flee-on-sight order directly from the Tsuchikage eh?" Naruto just chuckled, he didn't even know why he had that on his bingo book profile, all those talks with Oonoki to prove that he wasn't his father and his granddaughter turns out to be exactly the same. Fuu smiled as well, rolling her neck back and forth, playing nanny to Naruto's kids was fun, but tiring.

"Yeah, being the second man to ever receive an SS-ranking might help just a little as well." Naruto just smiled and nodded, that had certainly been a surprise when he saw it; it also made him feel a little bit proud. He felt as though he was at least living up to his father's reputation while at the same time he kind of hoped he wasn't casting too much of a shadow for his own son to follow in. He shrugged it off, he was training his son himself and one day he knew Arashi would surpass him as well. At least until then he could enjoy beating his son around the training field, all in good sport of course.

"Well it's been a long day so..." Fuu just nodded kindly.

"Yeah, I better get back to Yukimaru anyway." Naruto waved her away as she took off into fading sunlight, quickly lost amongst the twinkling stars. He felt a tug on his hand and looked around to see Tayuya grinning at him deviously.

"I hope you aren't _too _tired. I have plans you know?" A large grin broke out over Naruto's features as he swiftly picked his wife up bridal style, immediately flashing to their room before carefully laying her out on their bed. She just smiled seductively; twiddling a strand of hair between her fingers in a way she knew drove him mad. As if to punctuate that point Naruto quickly dived on her, shedding his coat as he did so.

Tayuya quickly got the message and began to pull off her own clothes, helped by Naruto where he could and soon the two of them were lying next to each other completely naked as Naruto began trailing soft kisses across Tayuya's body. The redhead could only moan her approval, at least after checking that the privacy seals were up. Naruto took her groans of pleasure as a sign his ministrations were working and grinned as he continued to play with her nipple in between his teeth. He was about to stray lower when Tayuya grabbed his head, bringing him back up to face him as she planted a heated kiss on his lips.

"Not tonight Shithead, I need you right now." Naruto just smiled warmly, nodding as he readjusted his body, lining them up together. Tayuya gasped as she felt him slide inside her but quickly adjusted and began to move with him, getting the most out of his thrusts. Naruto continued to kiss her when he could, on the lips, on her shoulder, just over the small blue diamond next to the spiral seal on her neck, a wedding gift from Tsunade.

Finally Tayuya screamed out, unable to hold it back any longer, she clamped down around Naruto as he groaned in sync with her cry. They released together, both left panting on the bed, wrapped in each other's arms. Naruto continued to plant light, fluttering kisses across his wife's body while Tayuya tried to get her mind back from her post-orgasmic haze. Finally her vision cleared and she could look across at her husband with a smile.

"Happy birthday Shithead." The blonde just smiled as he fell back onto the comfortable bed, sighing happily. His life was just the way he always wanted it, he had a family, he had respect, he had a great friend and best of all he had the woman he loved lying next to him, sweaty, but beautiful. He sat up quickly when he heard a knock on their bedroom door, frowning as he got up and threw on a robe. The ANBU knew better than to see him for anything less than an emergency today; even so, he sighed and walked over. His eyebrow raised in surprise when he looked down at a mane of long blonde hair before his daughter looked up at him with her piercing green eyes.

"I couldn't get to sleep." Naruto just smiled kindly down at her as he took her small hand, leading her into the room where Tayuya just watched the scene with amusement.

"Was it the man in the orange mask again?" Konan just nodded making Naruto sigh, he regretted telling her that story now, he should have known it would give her nightmares. "Alright, you can sleep with us tonight." Konan just gave him the biggest smile as she immediately shot across the room so fast he feared she had somehow figured out his Fujin no Iki. Tayuya just laughed as she quickly pulled their daughter into a hug, after making sure she was clothed of course, wrapping up the little blonde with the bed covers.

"You know I think you just make up these nightmares so you can sleep with Kaa-san and Tou-san." Konan shook her head quickly but both Naruto and Tayuya caught the small blush that found its way onto the bridge of her nose. Naruto just shrugged as he flashed over the bed, making his daughter giggle as he vanished, only to reappear behind her.

"Well I don't mind, it just means I get to spend more time with my little girl." Konan beamed before snuggling in-between her parents, looking up at them both with wide eyes.

"Can you tell me a story?" Naruto looked across at Tayuya who simply shrugged, giving him a look that clearly said 'it's your turn'. He sighed internally but masked it with a kind smile as he pulled Konan in closer to him with one arm around the young girl's shoulders.

"You didn't always live in the Sand Village?" Naruto just shook his head with an understanding smile. "Are you going to let me tell the story?" The younger blonde quickly quietened down as she got more comfortable "Well you see, one day I was running..."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if you were expecting an update but I wanted to let anybody reading this know that I'm looking for a new beta reader for my next couple of fics, if you're interested drop me a PM, it would be a Naru/Yugi/Fuu or a Naru/Anko... maybe both I haven't decided. **

**-Digi-**


End file.
